Wayland to Waveland
Sets Next Wave of Help

June 11 – Six premier home building companies from the area have committed to the latest Wayland to Waveland (W2W) Hurricane Relief project to build eight homes in Mississippi in a 16-week period starting in October.

Click Here to Volunteer

The W2W Steering Committee will be working with the group of home builders headed by Ken Vona of Kenneth Vona Construction of Waltham. Others participating include the Mitchell Construction Group, Inc. (led an Extreme Makeover in Medfield two years ago); Twin Peaks Construction, LLC; Thoughtforms Corporation Builders; Gallagher Home Builders, Inc.; and Custom Designs, Inc. Custom Designs owner Peter Bachman of Wayland lead the efforts that started last October to rebuild three homes in Waveland with W2W.

The W2W group hopes many Waylanders will “Catch the Next Wave” of help by volunteering to work locally and/or travel to Wayland’s sister city Waveland, Mississippi to work on the new homes.  Waveland was “Ground Zero” during Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago. While some homes are being re-built, many families who lost everything do not have the means to rebuild. The city is very, very slowly recovering and showing some signs of rebuilding.

Vona has generously offered to coordinate the construction of new homes for eight Waveland families displaced by Katrina. He and the others will be arranging for significant donations of materials including construction materials, fixtures, counters, cabinets and appliances.

All the companies will be contributing highly skilled manpower, money, resources, and equipment for the effort that will span four months. W2W needs to find and organize a steady stream of volunteer workers during each of the 16 weeks of the project.

As this is no small task, the W2W committee is immediately seeking volunteers to support this effort. Right away, people are needed to serve on the steering committee, head subcommittees, and work in pre-building organization here right through the summer. Others will be needed in Waveland during the project.

On-site volunteers will be needed continuously from October into February to ensure we get all the tasks done. During a similar effort last fall, approximately 60 volunteers, including high school students, experienced this life-changing volunteer opportunity to go to Waveland and build much-needed homes for three very grateful families!

W2W has set up an online system for volunteers to sign up simply by filling out a survey at the Web site www.waylandtowaveland.org. Just click on the link “Click Here to Volunteer ” to start the process. You also can call one of the Steering Committee members listed on the web site.

During the last several weeks W2W has interviewed displaced families in Waveland who are interested in taking advantage of this project. Currently W2W is in the final stages of formalizing agreements with five families, and is interviewing to select three more families.

As always, the Wayland to Waveland fundraising efforts are continuing. Contributions will be used to directly support our rebuilding efforts for those most in need in Waveland. All contributions are completely tax deductible and can be mailed to the Wayland to Waveland Hurricane Relief Fund, c/o Town of Wayland, Town Building, 41 Cochituate Road.

Volunteering: The Wayland To Waveland committee is planning to return to Mississippi for yet another huge rebuilding effort. This trip is currently planned for October of 2007.  Anyone interested in volunteering should contact one of the committee members listed on this Web site.

Contributions: As always, the Wayland to Waveland fundraising efforts are continuing. Contributions will be used to directly support our rebuilding efforts for those most in need in Waveland. All contributions are completely tax deductible and can be mailed to the Wayland to Waveland Hurricane Relief Fund, c/o Town of Wayland, Town Building, 41 Cochituate Road.