Our Brother’s Keeper gives back to community

Published 10:10 am Friday, December 12, 2014

 

Americorps NCCC staff members clean up a home Thursday on Sky Vale Drive. (Justin Sellers/The Vicksburg Post)

Americorps NCCC staff members clean up a home Thursday on Sky Vale Drive. (Justin Sellers/The Vicksburg Post)

On a warm morning in late November there was a flurry of activity at the home of Herscine and Charles Henry Brown on Skyvale Drive.

People were on their hands and knees in the flowerbed adjacent to the Browns’ porch. Others were in the yard raking leaves and removing the debris from previous rainstorms. Someone else was washing the exterior walls of the house to get them ready for painting.

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The workers were a crew of Americorps NCCC section leaders partnering with Crawford Street United Methodist Church’s Service Over Self program to fix the Browns’ home under a program called “Our Brother’s Keeper,” which was begun by Gertrude Young, the City of Vicksburg’s housing director.

“What we’re doing is landscaping and replacing rotten boards, and we’ll paint the windows of the house,” said April Eubanks, Americorps NCCC assistant program director. She said the work at the Browns’ home was being done in two stages, with SOS completing the home repairs during its annual volunteer service program in the summer.

“I feel so grateful,” Herscine Brown said as she sat in her living room and watched the activity from her window. “Very grateful.”

The program’s name, Young said, comes from the story of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis.

“It’s based on Cain’s comment to God, when he asked God, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’” Young said, adding the idea grew out of a need to get the community involved as a way to supplement a grant-funded city program to improve the homes of low-income elderly residents.

Young said the city’s housing department receives Special Needs Assistance Grant funding from the Federal Housing Administration, which provides money to help low income elderly residents renovate and repair their homes, “but the need is so great, we don’t have enough money from the grant to help everyone who needs it.”

It was that lack of funds coupled with the tremendous need in the community that prompted Young to consider the volunteer program. In August, Young and Community Development Director Victor Gray-Lewis met with local ministers to discuss the program and enlist their help. Since that meeting, she said, several churches and volunteer groups and become involved with projects.

“Home Depot volunteered to help one woman,” Young said. “Mount Carmel M.B. Church is helping a lady on Mundy Street, Mount Calvary M.B. Church is helping another. Constable Troy Kimble took on a project by himself. Sheriff Martin Pace is working on a house. And Crawford Street, SOS and Americorps have projects.”

Under the program, the volunteers provide the materials, supplies and the labor to fix the home, and the work can involve several projects from replacing doors and windows to painting or plumbing.

Herscine Brown said she and her husband have tried to maintain their house “doing what we could do, but it just got harder.” She said they are both disabled and her husband was in the hospital. “We just couldn’t do it any more. We were hoping we might be able to get some help.”

The Browns called Young, who put them in touch with SOS coordinator Bob Moss.

“We talked to Mr. Moss about our problem and he said, ‘we’ll look and see how we can help you all,’” Herscine Brown said. “We’re so happy for the help.”

“We were looking for a public service project to do, and we called Bob Moss at SOS,” Eubanks said. “He told us about this project.”

Americorps team member Mindy Brown took her efforts beyond showing up and grabbing a shovel. She reached into her pocket and bought plants for the flowerbed in front of the porch.

“I bought a couple of holly bushes and an assortment of pansies,” she said. “I’m a gardener. You can’t have a house without plants around it.”

She pointed to a tall, slim stalk standing against the porch. “That’s a climbing rose. We rescued it from under a rock. I’d love to come back here in the spring when it blooms. It will be a show.”

“I’m so happy we’re able to get some help,” Herscine Brown said. “I feel so blessed.”

Young said people or organizations interested in participating in Our Brother’s Keeper can call her or housing coordinator Angela Turner at the Vicksburg Housing Office at 601-634-4520, or Crawford Street United Methodist Church at 601-636-5612.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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