27 Feb 2007 07:12 am
Mrs. Redford’s Shotgun
Posted by Pastor Don A. Elbourne Jr.
Mrs. Redford, a 76 year old widow with parkinson’s, and faithful member of Lakeshore Baptist Church, road out the storm with her little dog. She found herself swimming in the storm surge as Katrina destroyed the rental property where she lived. After the storm her family tried to get her to move away, but because of her strong desire to stay connected to her church, she took all the money she had and purchased a small piece of land and a dilapidated flooded mobile home.
Volunteers gutted the trailer and began trying to rehab it for her to live in. The twisted frame suffered irreparable damage. We quickly realized the futility of sinking money into such a damaged structure. At a church fellowship meal I approached Mrs. Redford and told her I had good news and bad news for her. I began with the bad news, telling her that we could not repair her trailer. She sheepishly understood and thanked me for doing all we could. I asked her if she wanted to hear the good news. She reluctantly agreed to listen. I told her although we could not repair the flooded trailer, we planned to build her a brand new house. She literally jumped for joy as tears of gratitude flooded down her cheeks.
Mrs. Redford now lives in a beautiful comfortable little shotgun house built with 100% volunteer labor and funded with the money people sent in from all across the country. She kept a record of all those who helped by asking them to sign boards. Hear her tell her story in the video below.
[…] Posted by Pastor Don A. Elbourne Jr. One week from today a contingent from the Northwest Baptist Association of Oklahoma will head our way. Led by their Director of Missions, John Elam, we look forward to their “Rebuild, Encourage, Proclaim” mission trip. They put together the video about Mrs. Redford that I posted to our blog last week. They also have several downloadable documents on their web site particular to their project. These files might also prove helpful for ideas to those of you planning, preparing, and promoting your own mission trip to Lakeshore. […]
We understand that Mrs Redford is becoming quite the personality. First a video + now a front page newspaper article!!! Once again, the men here from Trinity Lutheran in Joppa, MARYLAND were thrilled to be the ones to start the foundation + framework for her little “shotgun house” back in June 2006, and we Trinity ladies were honored to add the finishing touch of her lattice work this past November. We look forward to seeing a picture of Mrs Redford on her bike, pedaling around town (smile) as soon as possible. See y’all in June ;>)
Hey Mrs Redford, I am so so HAPPY to see this website on you. We have so often wonderered about you. Remember me….I drove a white camaro (sportscar) and had the Rat Terrier dog named “Buddy” that we always came in and bought some chicken for him for supper and you would tease me about buying him the chicken, since he was a dog. And remember Brad,? he had a pony tail. You were always great to us at Todd’s. We are very excited that you are moving forward.
We miss you and love you!
Monica and Brad……..and Buddy
Mrs Redford is a very special person in my life .. we, a small team of three from Decatur Baptist Rebuilding Mission Team spent a week working on her beloved house .. I didn’t get to see her last week but I will see her the next time ..
love you Mrs Redford and the Lakeshore Church people
May God Always Bless You
dewey
I feel so fortunate to have the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Radford. She is such a remarkable person. I have thought of her often after our trip this summer to Lake Shores. I was with the Oak Grove Baptist Church, Monticello, KY. I have told many people about her. I pray she is doing well. Please pass on to her that she has touched so many lives with her determination and faith. Hope to be back to help this summer.