I saved these two stories quite a while ago to share with you all, but I’m just now getting around to doing so. Enjoy.

David Darlington tells about his experience in Biloxi, helping to build houses post-Katrina:

Everywhere we went during the week, people expressed appreciation for the volunteers who keep coming back to Biloxi. With the media attention gone, and the casinos and WalMarts running close to normal, there’s the impression that things are ok on the gulf coast. This is most certainly not the case. Indeed, a frequent refrain — from local restaurant owners to local Baptist pastors to, believe it or not, the garbageman who stopped his truck to check out the progress we’d made on our house — was that ‘if it wasn’t for the churches, we’d have been forgotten long ago.'”

Amanda at Wittingshire is writing about junior high girls and the contagious faith and joy of a middle schooler with Down’s Syndrome:

Though Olivia required constant attention, I never saw a counselor or camper begrudge her their time and energy. She was welcomed with open arms, and included in everything all week long. This speaks well of the campers and counselors, but mostly it speaks well of Olivia: She loved everyone she met, and so everyone loved her back. There aren’t that many people in the world whose whole faces light up when they see you; Olivia’s always did. Every awkward and self-conscious girl in that camp knew that one person, at least, would be enthusiastically glad to see her.”