[StBernard] FIRST BAPTIST CHALMETTE

[Westley Annis]

FIRST BAPTIST CHALMETTE 

John Dee Jeffries, pastor of First Baptist Church of Chalmette, and Carol
Saling, the church's administrative assistant, recently accepted a $10,000
donation from a couple from Birmingham, Ala., who want to be known only as
"Mr. B and his wife." 

"Mr. B," who also led a volunteer construction team to work on the Chalmette
church, decided to make the donation after hearing that the Edwin Rollison
Home Mission Fund had awarded the Chalmette congregation a $50,000 matching
grant. 

Since then, others also have come forward. 

Steve Kelly, pastor of First Baptist Church in Many and a former member of
the Chalmette church, led his congregation in donating $5,000. AMG
International of Chattanooga, Tenn., publishers of Pulpit Helps Magazine, a
sermon resource magazine distributed to pastors and churches and across the
nation, sent $5,000; Hickory Valley Baptist Church in Chattanooga gave
$1,000; Valleydale Community Church in Birmingham sent $4,000; and the
Reynolds Baptist Association of Missouri donated $3,000. 

Over the past 10 months, Jeffries said, nearly 3,000 volunteers from across
the country have traveled to Chalmette to work on the church's rebuilding
project. 

Jeffries said more help is needed. 

"This is primarily a volunteer construction project, a very large, very
complex, yet very simple project," he said. "Even the inexperienced can make
significant construction contributions." 

Monetary donations also are being accepted. Checks made payable to First
Baptist Church of Chalmette can be mailed to 2010 W. Beauregard St.,
Chalmette, La. 70043. 

For more information, call the church at (504) 277-2939.