Good morning everyone. My health continues to improve, and I’ve been able to get around to doing some more things over the past day or so. Anyway, I wanted to update everyone on the blog entry that I wrote yesterday concerning those in South Florida, who are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Wilma. After posting my article yesterday, I e-mailed the head of IHOPE, David Grove, who is working very hard to get shelter for those, who still are living in unlivable homes since the impact of the hurricane. This morning, Grove replied to my e-mail, and indicated that due to the tremendous impact Hurricane Katrina had on the Central Gulf Coast of the United States in August 2005, much of the funding and resources went to help those victims. Consequently, IHOPE has had to rely on faith based charities for help.

“We are still rebuilding people’s homes from Hurricane Wilma in 2005 as well as setting up FEMA trailers for those whose homes are basically unlivable,” said Grove, “Since Katrina went through Louisiana and Mississippi around the same time, a lot of the funding went that direction, so we have been operating solely on Faith based funding from folks at Lutheran Disaster, United Methodist Organization for Relief, Presbyterian Disaster, and other such groups.” Grove went on further to state that donations are still very welcome. And that means donations of any kind including money. Nevertheless, he did make an emphasis on the need for building materials such as sheetrock. “Any donations are welcome at any time. We continue to need construction materials (2X4’s, sheetrock, 28 degree nails for an air nailer, Cool White roof coating, and many other things) and of course we can always use cash donations. We also can use some furniture donations, beds, and that sort of thing, but we have limited storage facilities,” he said.

Donations can be made to: IHOPE, and sent to the following:

David Grove
I HOPE, Inc.
P.O.Box 777
Immokalee, FL 34143

Physical address: 708 N. 11th Street Immokalee, FL 34142

Grove also went on further to state that IHOPE will send a letter for tax purposes for any donations you make. Moreover, his organization is also looking to use volunteer groups to help with repairs as well if you come across any that may have some time to come down here. For details, you can contact David Grove via e-mail at overseer54@comcast.net, or via phone at either 239-657-3889, or 239-896-2998, and he will provide you with the particulars. IHOPE is registered on the Disaster News Network, as well as numerous other sites for volunteer requests. This organization is not requiring skilled volunteers, just those, who are willing for the most part.