After seven long years of waiting, nine displaced Missouri families are in newly constructed homes.

Following heavy flooding along the Mississippi River in 2011, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers made the decision to blast the Birds Point-New Madrid levee in southeastern Missouri, where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers converge, to alleviate pressure on the river levee system.

The small town of Pinhook, Missouri was destroyed by the resulting rush of floodwaters. Unfortunately, shortly after this happened the community of Joplin, Missouri was devastated by an F-5 tornado that took the lives of 158 people, and the focus of the federal and state response shifted from Pinhook to Joplin.

For seven years, residents of Pinhook have struggled to maintain their community and rebuild their homes. During this time, state officials in Jefferson City; leaders of Missouri’s Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (MO VOAD) including Missouri’s Adventist Community Services Disaster Response (MO ACSDR) team; and the Missouri Governor’s Faith-Based Community Service Partnership for Disaster Recovery have been working to resolve the situation.

This spring and summer, 12 organizations collaborated to place nine families in newly constructed homes. Partnering organizations include MO ACSDR, the Bootheel Regional Planning Commission, Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, Charleston Baptist Church Association, Convoy of Hope, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Disaster Aid Ohio, Focus Bank, Mennonite Disaster Services, Notre Dame Regional High School, and the Saint Francis Medical Center.

Each home cost an average of $44,000 to build, with each family receiving $39,180 in grant funds toward the cost. The volunteer organizations also donated nearly $48,000 in combined materials and over 10,000 hours of volunteer labor.

With the help of generous donor support, MO ACSDR provided all the interior and exterior paint, a value of over $5,000. Thank you to all who support the local ministry of Adventist Community Services in the Iowa-Missouri Conference.

To support local ACSDR projects or to inquire about volunteer opportunities, please visit imsda.org/acsdr.