5th Day of Living in a Shack

Monday, October 9, 2017

Summary: Lisa Pierce, Executive Director of Alabama Rural Ministry (ARM), and other local leaders living in shacks to raise awareness about substandard housing in rural parts of Alabama.

For Immediate Release: Area Leaders Dwelling in Shacks

Organization: Alabama Rural Ministry

Ministry has raised $35,000 towards their goal of $100,000 by living in shacks in downtown Auburn. The shacks are located at 131 S. Gay Street in Auburn across from Tiger Rags.

On Tuesday from 9am-12pm, Lisa will be joined at the shacks by the following pastors: Rev. Cory Smith, Auburn United Methodist Church (UMC)  Rev. Larry Bryars from Frazer UMC, Rev. Lester Spencer from St. James UMC in Montgomery, and Rev. Robin Wilson, pastor at FUMC Opelika.

We hope our community will come see them and make a donation or pledge towards our $100,000 goal which helps us repair 20 homes in our local community.

Purpose: Local church pastors and business leaders are uniting together with Alabama Rural Ministry (ARM) for its 10th Annual Sweet Homes for Alabama fundraising campaign. Lisa Pierce, Executive Director of ARM, has been living in a shack since last Wednesday Oct. 4th. Other business leaders have committed to 3 hours or an overnight stay in another shack next to Lisa's. The goal is to raise awareness about poverty housing in the local area and throughout Alabama, provide efforts for people to volunteer to help repair homes, and raise $100,000 to help with the cost of materials for repairing these homes. The need is great— there are over 100 families on our needs list requesting help in our local area. With a housing shortage of 90,000 housing units in Alabama and a declining housing stock with our elderly, the need is always great and before us.

* Available for interview

For more information about Sweet Homes for Alabama, the shacks, or the workshops, see our website www.arm-al.org, @alruralministry (Twitter), Facebook-Alabama Rural Ministry and email lisa@arm-al.org, or call (334) 332-8878.