Gulf Coast Volunteers Restore Hope

Contractors Sacrifice Free Time To Rebuild Homes Destroyed In Katrina

(CBS)  There's one group of contractors that have never had an argument with a homeowner. They're rarely behind in their work, do an exceptional job, and as CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports, not a single one gets paid a dime.

"These people have been a life saver; it's like they were dropped out of heaven," Gulfport resident Lorraine Wooten says.

She's not far off. The contractors are all volunteers with the North Carolina Baptist Men, just one of the hundreds of faith-based organizations whose members have sacrificed weekends, vacations and even sick days to come to the Gulf Coast and do what the government and insurance agencies seem unable to do.

Eddie Williams is the man in charge. His wife, Martha, does the books.

"Yesterday we called a lady and told her we were going to be able to build her a new house," says Eddie, a volunteer. She was screaming with joy over the phone, he adds.

Both Eddie and Martha quit their jobs in North Carolina to come stand in the gap, they say, and not just for a few weeks. They've been helping out for two years.

"These two years are just a blip in our lives compared to what the people of the Gulf Coast are going to be recovering from, for the next five, six, seven, 10 years," Martha says.

The couple is a model of efficiency.

Eddie took over Gulfport's abandoned National Guard Armory. He made barracks for hundreds of volunteers to sleep in, a kitchen that pumps out a thousand meals a day, and a warehouse full of building supplies. He even built a prayer garden, one of the few quiet places here.

"God does miraculous things, and I never realized that we would have this many volunteers," Eddie says.

Just how many has he brought to Gulfport? More than 15,000 over the last year. Sometimes he has as many as 1,200 volunteers per day. To date, they've put in more than 900,000 hours of volunteer labor.

If you do the math, it's pretty extraordinary: 15,000 volunteers in a community that used to house 75,000 people. That works out to be one volunteer for every five residents.

All are offering themselves for back-breaking work. But Eddie says, somehow, it's pain-free.

"I feel like if we were back home and keeping the hours that we're doing on our regular jobs, we'd be the biggest whiners there ever was," Eddie says. "You know, 'too many hours.' We're not getting enough rest.' We're not getting enough sleep.' But you don't hear that here. I think it's by knowing that we're doing what the Lord wants us to do."

It's a selfless commitment that seems contagious, and a blessing by anyone's measure.