In the South, a new helping hand: Muslim disaster relief teams
Islamic Relief USA is turning ecumenical rebuilding efforts into interfaith partnerships.
Delores J. Porter and her husband had to abandon their one-story house in Princeville, North Carolina, after floodwaters rose nearly ten feet in mid-October.
Passing by one day this summer, she was overjoyed to see people working at her house. When she gingerly stepped onto the exposed floor joists, she found a troop of young Muslim volunteers in blue “Islamic Relief USA” T-shirts installing support beams in the 90-degree heat.
“I will take a hug from everybody,” said Porter, 61, a former schoolteacher and administrator and lifelong resident of Princeville. “If you don’t mind my perspiration, I definitely don’t mind yours.”
