Barnard Helping Hands Volunteers Leave on Katrina Relief Project

Barnard Helping Hands Volunteers Leave on Katrina Relief Project By Martha Slater

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a group of volunteers from Barnard were among those across the country who reached out to help people who had lost everything.

In the small town of Kiln, Miss., 90% of the 400 students in town were left without a home or a school, and with deep emotional scars. As this small community rebuilds, it’s estimated that many of them will spend the next five or six years living in trailers and being schooled in temporary classrooms. The first graders at Gulf View Elementary School will spend their entire elementary school experience in portable classrooms.

The Barnard volunteers decided that they could help by raising funds for and constructing an outdoor classroom/picnic pavilion. The assembly and delivery of this structure by volunteers has been overseen by Rick and Laurel Tobiason, and a crew of volunteers left this week to erect the finished product.

"Helping Hands was looking for a meaningful way to use funds raised for Katrina victims over the course of last year," the Tobiasons explain. "The response to help was so powerful that we formed a committee to seek direct and personal ways to make a difference. Hundreds of Christmas gifts were purchased and sent to families that were devastated and help was given to a Katrina victim who relocated here in Barnard.

"With funds remaining, we decided to head south in search of a community to help similar in size to our own," they continue. "Gulf View Elementary School in Kiln, Miss., was a perfect match. We connected their students with our students at the Barnard Elementary School, and a pen-pal relationship began."

Jan White, Principal of Gulf View, had lobbied for ten years to have an outdoor classroom built. In the summer of 2005 one was finally built, only to be destroyed by Katrina after two weeks of use.

A number of fundraisers were held over the winter and spring months, and all the wood for this project has been purchased, cut, painted, bundled, and is now on its way to Mississippi, along with the crew of volunteers.

Although thousands of dollars have been raised, contributions are still welcome, and those who would like to make a tax deductible donation to continue the Helping Hands projects, may send it to: Barnard Helping Hands/Katrina Project, P.O. Box 243, Barnard, Vt. 05031; or call Rick or Laurel Tobiason at 234-5578 for more information.

Helping Hands board members included co-chairs, Mary Blanton and Kim Furlong; secretary, Linda Beaumariage; treasurer, Carolyn DiCicco; and directors: Louis Ahlen, Joanne Findley, Lloyd Rudolph, Suzanne Rudolph, Laurel Tobiason, and Beverly Ward; and advisory board members: David Baldwin, Anne Koop, Marion Labonte, Hilary Mullins, and Ethan Shaw.

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