| LATEST NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS |
| 960 Volunteers Registered for the 2008 Summer Season |
As of this week there are 960 volunteers registered for the 2008 summer season! What does that mean? There are 960 people from 61 churches, schools and agencies in 13 states headed to Hinton to make a difference in the lives of people in the community. It also means that there is space for 140 more people who want to be involved in home repair and affordable housing in rural Western North Carolina. Call the office at (828)389-8336 or email clarissa@hintoncenter.org to find out how to volunteer or download the registration form and send it in today. |
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| Furniture’s a symbol of community’s rebirth |
 When Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi gulf coast in August 2005, a historical United Methodist mission center in Waveland, Gulfside Assembly, was in the direct path of the eye of the storm. Gulfside began in 1923 as a Methodist retreat center for black Methodists. In the days before racial integration, Gulfside was the primary place where black Methodist folk went for training events and conferences. Just 2 weeks before Katrina hit, Gulfside had dedicated a new hotel overlooking the waters of the gulf. Katrina leveled the entire Gulfside facility with a 30 foot storm surge.
The United Methodist Church holds its General Conference every four years and draws delegates from across the United States as well as from around the world. Mollie Stewart, on staff at Hinton Rural Life Center, serves on the planning committee for General Conference and also chairs the board of directors of Gulfside Assembly. This planning committee asked Mollie if it would be possible to make the worship furniture for the 2008 General Conference from boards cut from trees that went through Hurricane Katrina at Gulfside. Mollie Stewart and Clay Smith, director of Hinton, drove a truck to Gulfside last October to cut several red oak and red cedar trees. A local United Methodist pastor who owns a portable sawmill came and sawed boards from the logs. Trull Wood Products Company in Franklin dried the boards in their kiln, and a group of local volunteers began building the furniture at the Hinton Center in January. The volunteers included Mike Garitta, Keith Harrell, Rufus Stark and Kirk Hatherly of First United Methodist Church in Hayesville, John Freeman, a United Methodist pastor in South Carolina and Clay Smith.
The five pieces of worship furniture include a 6 foot round communion table made from red cedar, and an altar table, a pulpit, a baptismal font, and a small side table made from red oak. The theme and logo for the General Conference is a tree, so the furniture is made with the natural edges of the boards and a tree trunk for the base of the communion table. The furniture will be in Fort Worth, Texas, for the General Conference meeting set for April 23 – May 2. All the furniture will eventually be placed at Gulfside Assembly as they rebuild the facility over the next few years.
This furniture made from trees that came through the storm surge will serve as a reminder that we must continue to work and support the recovery efforts on the entire gulf coast. |
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