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Jul 10, 2012 | The Rev. Gill Keyworth

Federal Funds Granted to Bastrop Recovery Efforts

Bastrop CleanupWe have been blessed with many volunteers coming to Bastrop County and giving of their time and talent to help rebuild lives here. On July 4, Christine Files, president of the recovery effort, wrote, “Today marks the 10 month anniversary of the fire. All of you should be extremely proud of what you have accomplished in that 10 month period. There have been 20 homes rebuilt with 10 more under construction. Thru our volunteers we have touched well over 1500 properties and helped thousands of individuals on the path to recovery.”

 

Recently federal funds have been granted to the area and will be administered by the Texas General Land Office. $23.8 million is available for home rebuilding and $4.8 million for infrastructure. These rebuilds will use local contractors and will be considered on a case by case basis, in the main, to those who had no insurance. The task ahead is enormous and will only help about half those eligible.

 

The Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team is building and completing homes where either there are insufficient funds in the base case or people have run out of money. This is the area where all our Episcopal volunteers are working. Now that school is out we have lots of youth mission trips coming and staying at Faith Village. It is great to talk to the youth after a days work and to hear the excitement in their voices as they tell what they have been doing. There is lots of brush clearance and tree removal, sheetrock work, painting, deck building, fence replacement, home finishing.

 

The youth are learning valuable lessons and skills under the guidance of adults. Their contact is both practical and pastoral because they are meeting with homeowners and are hearing their stories. And because Faith Village is an ecumenical partnership between the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches that provides accommodation for the volunteers, they are learning and joining with other denominations for prayer and social time. We are happy to report that we have had to open overflow accommodation in the local Junior High gym during the summer because of the numbers coming to work.

 

Missionpalooza happens every year under the leadership of Kathy Westmoreland. They bring together many youth in the Diocese of Texas for community work. This year, 145 youth and adults will be working in Bastrop County the week of July 22. It is wonderful that our youth have the opportunity of hands on experience at reaching out to help others. Please keep them all in your prayers.

 

If you want to arrange to bring a group to work, then contact the Rev. Gill Keyworth or visit www.umcswtx.org/faith-village-registration to book accommodation direct.