press release

Building Goodness Foundation Builds Community Center for Town Devastated by Katrina

A new community center that will be dedicated in Pearlington, Miss. this weekend was constructed by volunteers from Charlottesville who took the small town to heart after it was savaged by Hurricane Katrina.

By Liz Palka

Published: August 27, 2009
http://www.charlottevillenewsplex.tv

A new community center in the town of Pearlington, Miss. has become what local residents call a "recovery center."

On Friday, members of the Building Goodness Foundation in Charlottesville will fly down to Pearlington to see first hand the impact they've had on the town.

The group started working with Pearlington right after Hurricane Katrina. The community center has taken the last two years to build. The grand opening of the center is on Saturday, but Pearlington residents have already been using the building for important family events.

"For the people of Pearlington to have a place where they can celebrate something like a wedding or a family reunion, it's very satisfying to know that we were a part of doing that," said the project coordinator and President of Martin Horn Inc., Jack Horn.

The Pearlington community center is the largest project that Building Goodness has taken on. Before the community center, the group also built 140 sheds in the town to help bring that town back to life.

Over the course of two years, Building Goodness made 40 trips with volunteers down to Pearlington to work on the community center.

To view the Charlottesville local news broadcast, click here.

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.