'I can't think of a better way to spend my time'

When looking out over the parking lot of the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum, one immediately notices the flurry of Habitat volunteers moving about the build site. But a striking sight not lost in the hustle and bustle is the commanding presence of six wooden boards marked Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Strength and Courage standing in the foreground. These signs designate the six houses that will be built this week, then packed up and shipped toward the Gulf Coast for Habitat’s Operation Home Delivery.

The words on these signs are written in thick black marker, and they are certain to leave an indelible impression on the minds of all that view them. They stand as inspiration in a difficult time. Speaking to the Habitat volunteers this morning, Cindy Griffin, executive director of the Metro Jackson Habitat affiliate, addressed the new challenge now confronting Habitat: to build homes not only with those ravaged every day by poverty, but also those devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Listening in the audience was Celeste Torres, a volunteer new to the Metro Jackson Habitat affiliate. Celeste came to Jackson after evacuating New Orleans with her three children, leaving behind a house irreversibly damaged by Katrina’s winds and now looters. “Everybody here wants to help,” said Torres. “I like being here to help out, too. It takes my mind off my own problems.”

Torres lived in New Orleans for 13 years. “Might as well say it was home,” she said. But the house that Celeste recently left behind wasn’t one she had lived in very long. Last year she and her children were forced to evacuate their previous house due to Hurricane Ivan.

“It’s exhausting. I can’t keep starting over,” said Torres. “You have a lot of post-traumatic stress and anxiety. Every time hurricane season comes, you worry.”

Torres decided to come with her children to Jackson because they have family there. Her uncle recommended that Torres talk to his friend, a Habitat homeowner, about the application process to partner with Habitat and buy a house. With the help of Bernadette Comeau, the family services coordinator for the Metro Jackson affiliate, Torres and her children are now temporarily living in a rental unit in the Jackson area. She hopes to apply for a Habitat house through the affiliate’s "New Neighbor" program, which is directed toward evacuees currently living in Jackson and interested in permanently relocating to Jackson.

For now, as she and her children pick up the pieces and begin again in Jackson, Torres will continue volunteering at Habitat house builds. Gesturing to the other volunteers milling about the work site, she said, “I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.”