After months of preparation and trial runs, we'll soon embark on our Volunteer Village hosting project full-time. Although we've been hosting volunteer work groups in the Education Annex off and on since December, beginning next Sunday, May 12, we'll be welcoming groups on a weekly basis.

The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) National Call Center has the upstairs portion of the Education Annex nearly fully booked through late Fall (with the exception of our ongoing Interfaith Hospitality Network weeks - housing homeless families in transition - a mission that continues as before). It's still possible that the remaining weeks will be eventually be booked as well, with the exception of dates around Thanksgiving and Christmas (which for obvious reasons are not times when volunteers are looking to come).

There are literally hundreds of volunteer groups - most of them from Presbyterian churches - on PDA's waiting list. Only a few Volunteer Villages are open right now in the New York/New Jersey area to receive them. A great many more churches are hard at work on their own hosting preparations and expect to open their doors to work groups soon. But for now, Point Pleasant Presbyterian's participation is critical to getting work boots on the ground in the Sandy-affected communities.

A challenge continues to be finding work sites where the homeowners are truly ready for workers to roll up their sleeves and begin. We're still learning of a few uncompleted muck-out jobs (with the associated work of mold abatement treatments), but a great many people who have already mucked out and demolished portions of their storm-damaged homes are still in financial limbo, waiting for all the pieces of their financing (FEMA payments, SBA loans, insurance claims, etc.) to fall into place. Some of these houses are in flood zones that may or not be subject to home-raising requirements in order to qualify for future flood insurance, which adds further complications. We don't want to send workers to help families who aren't ready for them, nor do we want to see them do work that will have to be undone in the future (as in a home that may have to be either demolished or raised up in such a way that it would destroy previous rebuilding), so we're proceeding cautiously.

A key person in this effort of matching workers to jobs is PPPC member Bill Williams, who has been serving as our transitional Construction Manager until such time as the Ocean County Long Term Recovery Group has its own Construction Committee up and running (which we hope will be soon). Bill has decades of experience in the building trades (he works as a mason), and has been able to carve time out of his own busy days to consult with homeowners and coordinate their needs with those of the volunteer workers, in consultation with the group leaders. Frank Jones has been assisting Bill, as has Tom Kenny, another local construction professional.

It's been a wonderfully heartening thing for me to see how many PPPC folks have stepped up to assist with the church's hosting efforts. I've been awed to realize how many of our most active volunteers are people who have themselves been powerfully affected by the storm.  It makes quite an impression when I mention to the visiting workers that some of the people serving their dinner are Sandy survivors who have yet to return to their homes.

It's all part of the rhythm of giving and receiving that we've been experiencing ever since last October 29th. By God's mysterious grace, we've all been learning how the boundary line between givers becomes blurred as we discover how connected we truly are, and how we all need each other.

Come, join us in this mission. Find your own place in the rhythm of giving and receiving!