Pearlington Community Center Webpage

The Building Goodness Foundation has created a special section on its website to feature the Pearlington Community Center. Click here to view it.

Charlottesville construction firm honored for citizenship

Martin Horn Inc., a longtime local general contracting company, has received the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s highest award for corporate citizenship. Martin Horn has long supported local nonprofit organizations, including the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad, Live Arts, Piedmont YMCA, Monticello, the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area and many others.

To find out more, click here.

Pearlington Community Center

VMDO teams up with the Building Goodness Foundation to design and build a new Community Center for Pearlington, Mississippi

From a safe place in Charlottesville, we watched the catastrophe unravel on August 29, 2005, when the eye of Katrina made a direct hit on New Orleans. As the news reports exposed the tremendous wounds along the Gulf Coast, we wondered what could we do to help. When the first group of BGF volunteers returned to Charlottesville with stories of families living in makeshift tents along the mud soaked coast, we feared that this small rural community was at risk of being forgotten. A community without hope would have many challenges that federal assistance could not address.

Inspired by BGF’s commitment to help rebuild the small Mississippi community, VMDO assembled the design team of 2rw Consulting Engineers and Fox & Associates to design a new community center.  BGF’s successful shed project in the days directly following the storm attracted a group in Weston, MA to join the team as fundraisers for the new center.

On the site of the former Community Center, the team envisioned a new 6200 SF single-story structure constructed from renewable and recycled materials. With program space extending into the landscape, the community will enjoy opportunities for community gardens and play courts, screened outdoor space, a large community meeting space & commercial kitchen, youth and senior program space and leasable office space which will generate revenue to support the operations costs.

With preliminary design completed in end of October, the design team is excited to make their second trip to Pearlington - to present to the County and the community members who contributed in the first meeting in June.

Live Arts to donate proceeds to the Building Goodness Foundation

Live Arts has designated Building Goodness Foundation as the recipient of proceeds from its May 9th production of "A Streetcar Named Desire."  Every dollar from your ticket purchase will be donated to Building Goodness' efforts to build a Community Center in Pearlington, Mississippi.  With a $50 donation, you will receive admission to the pre-production reception, Gulf Coast photo exhibit, and the performance.

VMDO Architects is proud to sponsor the Building Goodness Foundation's efforts to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged of community of Pearlington. 

To learn more about the project, please visit http://www.buildinggoodness.org/national.php#pearlington

For more information about Live Art's presentation of "A Streetcar Named Desire", please visit
http://www.livearts.org/php-bin/productionArchive.php?id=73

Reflections on Rebuilding New Orleans

After the storm: reflections on efforts to rebuild New Orleans, questions on national responsibility, and the potential to recapture the spirit of the place

Following her recent experience as a volunteer in a temporary shelter for New Orleans evacuees in Bayton, Texas, VMDO's Kim Thompson explores the question many are grappling with about our civic obligation to contribute to the relief effort and our search for an appropriate response.

"On September 2, 2005, I found myself on the edge of two storms -- the first involving a search for long-term care for my ailing mother, who resides near Houston, and the second resulting from my involvement and deep concern for the families I met at the temporary shelter. Attempting to put it all in perspective, I emailed friends in Charlottesville. I struggled to portray the faces of survivors, and my impression that all of the victims were not clearly represented by the images broadcast on the nightly news. My introduction to one survivor, Nancy, brought it all in focus for me.

"The measure of our society is how we treat the weak and vulnerable, the poor and powerless, at home and abroad."

A version of this quote was offered for consideration in response to the challenges my family faced while researching options for long-term health care for my elderly parent. The relevance to the Gulf Coast resettlement crisis raises the question on a broader scale as many search for a new home.

How do we respond: I hesitate to offer a designer's solution to the rebuilding effort when the problem is so much larger than that. The potential to rebuild the hurricane-battered zone begins with rebuilding lives -- those displaced can support the restoration, rejuvenate the city, and most importantly, they embody the spirit of the place. Yet the impression that a larger question concerning our response still weights heavy on my mind as I enjoy the comforts of life in Charlottesville and recall the faces of the hundreds left homeless.

Looking back on the week in Texas, I am moved by the generosity of the volunteer efforts in the Houston area, as well as the response of the Charlottesville church that answered my request for help on behalf of Nancy's family.

I'm inclined to believe that helping to rebuild lives will restore the city, and the notion that the spirit of the place is in the people still echoes in my mind. What can we do to help?