press release

Pearlington, Mississippi Community Center - Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Held on Sunday, August 29, 2009

PEARLINGTON COMMUNITY CENTER DEDICATION

By Lenore Zug Lobel, Chair
Weston Hurricane Katrina Committee

What is a “gully washer”?
What is a “frog strangler”?

What is the value of a stunning new community center in Pearlington, Mississippi, a small town devastated by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005?
Thanks to so many of you, I can answer all three questions.

An estimated 200 people attended the dedication of the new Pearlington community center on August 29, 2009. The crowd included residents, volunteers from across the country, the press, and State and County officials. The weather was spectacular. Rocky Pullman, the President of the Hancock County Board of Supervisors, welcomed us. After the invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, we heard from State elected officials and from Howard Pape and Jack Horn, two founders of the Building Goodness Foundation in Charlottesville, Virginia who spent the last four years overseeing the construction of the community center. Paula Buhr, a nurse from Houston, Texas, spoke of her wrenching experience as one of the first responders to reach Pearlington in 2005; well in advance of the National Guard, she arrived by helicopter with water and medicine and a stethoscope and gun in her backpack. I spoke on behalf of the Town of Weston and the countless volunteers who gave so generously in terms of time and financial support. I was so proud to present a magnificent quilt made by a fifth grade Weston Girl Scout Troop under the able direction of Karen Ott. The quilt will be prominently displayed on a central wall of the community center as will a plaque thanking the Building Goodness Foundation and the Town of Weston. The good cheer and communal pride culminated in a “ribbon joining ceremony”, symbolizing the joining of the many volunteers and residents who made the community center a reality.

There already have been four weddings and scores of birthday parties and family gatherings, as well as numerous meetings, at the community center. The center is booked through March 2010.

Thank you all for your interest and support over the past four years. The community center is a fabulous success… and by the way, a gully washer is a “really heavy rain that fills a ditch (gully) and overflows” while a frog strangler is an “even heavier rain, so much so that it could even drown a frog”.

VMDO Architects was founded in 1976 and is the youngest firm to receive the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Architecture Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Virginia Society of American Institute of Architects.

For further information, interview, and photography opportunities in reference to this project and VMDO Architects, please contact William Bishop at 434.296.5684, email at bishop@vmdo.com.