Savannahians who set an example for us all in the past year. Linda Edwards and Nicole Gale-Evans -- Pickin' Up the Pieces after Katrina , By Robin Wright Gunn.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in August 2005, Linda Edwards was six months into her new life as a stay-at-home mom with her eleven-month-old son and seventh grade daughter, after a ten-year career as an administrator in Savannah’s federal court. 

Sixteen months later, her life at home with the kids includes a component that is rare in most families—recruiting volunteers, collecting donated building materials, coordinating fundraising, and leading relief trips from Savannah to Pearlington, Mississippi, as the volunteer Administrative Director of Pickin’ Up the Pieces, a Savannah non-profit relief organization founded by her husband Michael Edwards in the first weeks after the storm, returning from a hastily organized solo trip to deliver water, diapers and other basic supplies.

While Pickin’ Up the Pieces is a team effort for the Edwards, Linda has handled most of the heavy lifting of planning and implementing various projects, volunteering about 30 hours per week on the organization’s projects.“I’ve been to Mississippi eight or nine times now.  I’ve lost track,” says Linda.

Since September 2005 the non-profit has distributed $70,000 worth of school supplies, clothes, food, holiday gifts, and construction materials, and has sent 175 people in fourteen rebuilding teams--many for multiple trips--to the tiny town of Pearlington, perched on the Mississippi-Louisiana border and eight miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

“It’s a little group of houses out in a very rural area,” she says.  “It was probably a week before anyone realized they were there and needed help, to get any meaningful relief after the storm.”

Official and unofficial partners with Pickin’ Up the Pieces include Armstrong Atlantic State University, Charles Ellis Montessori Academy, Temple Mickve Israel, and Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church, where the Edwards’ are members.

Nicole Gale-Evans is a volunteer who’s made several trips to Pearlington.  At age 13, she is much younger than the typical relief worker, and has homework, youth group, and a busy middle school social schedule to juggle, yet Nicole’s family is supportive of her commitment to the cause. It helps that she is Linda Edwards’ daughter. “My first trip was in Thanksgiving 2005,” says the Oglethorpe Academy eighth grader.  “When I got there it was worse than I could possibly imagine… different from seeing it on TV.” “When I went to the Pearlington elementary school and saw the books and mud all over the floor—I thought, if that ever happened in Savannah, that could be my school.”

“There were kids down there that I thought were extraordinary,” says Nicole, “to go through what they have and still be happy.  That got me to go back again.  Each time there was a feeling or a thought that kept me motivated.

“The people seem to be so appreciative and grateful, and in such great spirits,” she says.  “If you were to meet them on the streets you wouldn’t think they had a care in the world.”

The positive attitudes of the people of Pearlington belie the slow progress of rebuilding.  “The need still exists.” says Linda.  “There is more space in my dining room than in those FEMA trailers.  There are families of three, four and five living in them.”  “I can only imagine what it can be like, living there day in day out, and not being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Waiting for their number.  Is today going to be the day that someone says ‘We can help you?’ That’s where they are.”

“Because of the magnitude [of destruction] there are a lot of people totally dependent on others coming to their aid.”

“Pickin’ Up the Pieces has changed Pearlington,” says Nicole.  “They weren’t getting a lot of help.  If we hadn’t gone there it may still be in the same state of devastation that we found it.” “It’s brought a lot of people from across the country and the world together to help rebuild an area of the country that was absolutely devastated,” says Linda.“Not only are we helping a community that is ten hours away, we hope that we are helping our community.”

“I think that with this opportunity I’ve been able to overcome some of my weaknesses,” says Nicole.  “I’ve become more giving.  It’s given me the experience of learning how to serve. “It gives us something to share and talk about that nobody else knows,” she says.  “If my mom is talking about something I can say ‘I was there. I know what she is talking about.