Yesterday, Friday, April 13th was a day displaced Pinhook residents had been waiting for for seven years. Yesterday their new houses in Sikeston were dedicated and the keys were handed over to them by representatives of Mennonite Disaster Services, who with Catholic Charities and Amish workers built the new houses for free. We all have been hoping and praying this day would come, and now it has. This is not the end of the Pinhook story; it is the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of a group of incredible people who always believed that they would get new homes where they could begin to rebuild their community.

I cannot express how happy I am to see this day arrive.

See a video from the key ceremony here.