Groups join hands to help Kirbyville man
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Courtesy photo KIRBYVILLE'S JAMES GREEN is pictured in his second home that he lived in after Hurricane Rita destroyed his original residence.

Everyone in Kirbyville knows James Green.

But not everybody knew about the conditions he was living in following Hurricane Rita's path through East Texas.

"When I was a kid, I knew of James Green," said Rodney Norsworthy, a pastor with Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church. "When Rita came through, he lost his home when they connected the electricity back on and his home caught on fire."

As a result, Green was forced to move into another "home" on his property that lacked electricity or running water.

"I just had trouble resting at night knowing Mr. Green was living in conditions like that," Norsworthy said. "The wind and rain was coming into his home and you could look up at his ceiling and count the stars at night.

"I would get up at night and wonder how James was making it," Norsworthy said. "He had no lights and no running water - just basically shelter over him. He was sleeping on a sofa."

He even spent the night with Green one evening when the temperatures dipped under freezing in order to see what the conditions were really like.

"We take so many things for granted," Norsworthy said. "It just touched my heart that this man was living like that."

Norsworthy worked the phone lines trying to gain Green some federal assistance with constructing a new home but all of his calls fell on deaf ears.

"Little did we know that we had avenues available to us in our own backyard," Norsworthy said.

He said he contacted Holly Anderson at the Deep East Texas Council of Governments. Norsworthy carried photos to Anderson and showed her Green's living quarters.

Anderson put a plan into action to help Green. She contacted Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross to pool resources together for the project.

When she was able to contact the Humanitarians, the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. The group from Montana, Iowa and Missouri helped construct his new home equipped with a new refrigerator, stove and washer and dryer.

"It was a joint effort of everybody," Norsworthy said. "All of this happened in three weeks. God moved fast for this project to be done."

With the new home, Norsworthy said he still trying to locate some new furniture for Green.

"I am trying to find someone to buy him or donate some furniture to him for his home," Norsworthy said.

He credited the people of Jasper County for helping this project come to fruition.

"We surrounded ourselves with good people who came to our rescue," Norsworthy said. "We're not in this for publicity or to pat our backs but just to let everyone know just how blessed we are.

"When you look at Mr. Green's former home, it makes you think 'how blessed I am to have a place with a decent roof over my head with running water and lights," Norsworthy said. "We take too much for granted."