Crystal Cathedral partners with ‘Building on Higher Ground'

First of three volunteer teams starts work Monday

For release May 5, 2006

Crystal Cathedral Ministries is sending three work teams over the next two months to help with the "Building on Higher Ground" home-building project for hurricane evacuees in Shreveport.

More than a dozen women from the Southern California church arrive in Shreveport Sunday, May 7, to start construction of the ninth house in the Higher Ground project. This Women's Build is led by Donna Schuller, wife of Dr. Robert A. Schuller, pastor of the congregation of more than 10,000 members in Garden Grove, Calif. The group will return home Friday, May 12.

The Crystal Cathedral will also send volunteer work teams to Shreveport the weeks of June 4-9 and 11-16. About 20 men and women are expected on each one of those teams.

"Building on Higher Ground" is a partnership effort led by The Fuller Center for Housing, Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal, Habitat for Humanity and other groups to build 60 houses for hurricane evacuees and other residents in need. Beginning in the Allendale neighborhood, the project now has eight houses either completed or under construction and is transforming one of Shreveport's impoverished neighborhoods into a place of new hope. Volunteers from throughout the nation have been coming to Shreveport to work on the project.

"I am so excited to be able to represent the Crystal Cathedral as we begin to build a house for a family who was displaced by the terrible tragedy of the hurricane," said Donna, who is also a mother of four and close friend of Linda Fuller, wife and co-founder of The Fuller Center with Millard Fuller. Donna Schuller and Linda Fuller are co-authors of the book, Woman to Woman Wisdom: Inspiration for Real Life.

"My friend Linda Fuller was here last October and shared with us this great project called ‘Building on Higher Ground.' At that time I felt like God was calling me and this church to help with the rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast region," Donna said. "So here we go!"

The Crystal Cathedral is home of the weekly, one-hour television program, Hour of Power, which is seen by an estimated 20 million people worldwide. The Crystal Cathedral will be taping their work experiences in Shreveport for possible inclusion in a future telecast of the program.

Hurricane Katrina evacuees Dwight and Monique Massey and their four children will live in the four-bedroom house built by the Crystal Cathedral teams. At 1,352 square feet, this house is larger than any of the others built so far and features a long porch that will overlook a community green space. One of their four children is handicapped and for this reason the house will be equipped with features such as grab bars on some of the walls. "This means so much to me and my family. We are so thankful that people would come from so far away to help us," Dwight said.

 "We've built houses in 100 countries for more than one million people and I've never seen a more exciting opportunity than what I see here in Shreveport," said Mr. Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity and now the founder and president of The Fuller Center for Housing in Americus, Ga.

Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal is a nonprofit effort to restore safe and healthy communities through caring relationships. Founded in 1994, SBCR reaches at-risk youth through Friendship Houses built in impoverished neighborhoods, strengthens education through the Adult Renewal Academy, partners with The Fuller Center for Housing and connects caring partners who turn their neighborhoods into safe havens of friendship and support.

Contact: David Westerfield, director of communications
(318) 425-3222
davidwesterfield@sbcr.us