Letter to the editor: Mississippi resident commends BonaResponds for help in time of need - Opinion

Letter to the editor: Mississippi resident commends BonaResponds for help in time of need - Opinion:

"...students of St. Bonaventure University, supported by other university representatives, spent three days of their midterm break working on my property in Mississippi. Words cannot express what their efforts meant to me and to my community.

Eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina, Long Beach remains devastated by its losses. Although we have worked steadily at rebuilding, the undertaking is so enormous that our resources - financial, emotional and spiritual - are sometimes exhausted by the effort.

When a group like BonaResponds comes in fresh, diligent, compassionate and giving, their gift goes far beyond their immediate labors, which in this case were substantial. They accomplished more than I would have thought possible in three days - gutting, sheet-rocking, sawing and removing huge trees and listening to our sad stories. More importantly, they gave us the strength to carry on.

In carrying their sense of community so far from their homes, they not only helped to rebuild an uninsured home for a needy woman displaced by the storm, but also embraced all of us with their faith and optimism.

We will be forever grateful for their contribution and to your university for supporting them in it"