Dateline Greenwood, Mississippi, mile post 415, July 6

By David Snell,
Fuller Center for Housing President

Sheilla and I are on a grand tour of covenant partners. Our first stop was Greenwood, Mississippi, the little CP that could.

The driving forces here are Rocky and Pann Powers, eighty-something dynamos who could tire this relative youngster right out. They’ve been building houses here for years, starting with Habitat in 1984 and with The Fuller Center in 2008. They’ve built 30 new houses and renovated many more. They’ll be having a paint-out later this summer and will refurbish another 10, and soon will begin a 10-unit Katrina cottage project that will create a new neighborhood of these small, functional homes.

Most of their work is in Baptist Town, an area of Greenwood that, like so many of the neighborhoods we work in, has been left behind. Their work there is revitalizing the area and, as so often happens, other homeowners are fixing up as well.

Rocky and Pann are worth spending some time with. Pann sits on the board of 6 of the 10 United Way nonprofits in Greenwood. Rocky spends most of his time at the work site. He says he can’t do quite as much as he used to, but my guess is he’s still a formidable presence there.

Stay tuned for more to come from our road trip!