Lukana’s Christmas Dream:
Helping Hurricane Victims
By Chris Costanzo

Lukana’s Dream on Main Street in Bethel has a new project going for the Christmas season. It is joining with Barnard’s Helping Hands, local schools, and private donors to fill a truckload of gifts for the residents of Pearlington, Miss., whose town remains devastated from hurricane Katrina last year.

For Bethel’s Margaret Daniel and her daughter Madelaine, founders of Lukana’s Dream, the project is right down their alley. The name Lukana derives from "leucaena," a genus of nutritive trees that can often grow in areas of draught and want, and play a role in replenishing devastated environments. Lukana’s Dream, described as a "non-profit global exchange store" has been functioning for a year or so, receiving donated articles and using them in various ways to support impoverished or stressed communities around the world.

The community of Pearlington in our own country is a special case. Situated near the southernmost point of Mississippi, right on the Louisiana border a short distance from New Orleans, with a population of barely 1,600, it was 90% destroyed by hurricane Katrina in 2005.  

"Federal relief agencies pulled out after only a few months, and the people of Pearlington are still struggling," Madelaine Daniel told The Herald.

The truck that is being prepared for Pearlington is a 48-foot tractor trailer, and it will be parked in Barnard at the town hall until December 12. The Barnard Store will receive donations of such things as food, clothing, toys and gifts, bedding, comforters, and small appliances. Articles donated should be in excellent condition.

For the convenience of donors in the Bethel area, Lukana’s Dream is one of the drop-off points for donations, and is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The last day that Lukana’s can receive donated items will be December 9, after which donations should be brought directly to the Barnard Store through December 12. The tractor trailer will set out for Pearlington December 13.

Of particular importance in the shipment will be 50 boxes of food earmarked for 50 Pearlington families. Madelaine Daniel noted that members of Helping Hands in Barnard have already been to Mississippi and have established relationships with the people of Pearlington.

"This is not an impersonal effort," she told The Herald. "We have a list of specific people there with very specific needs, and donors can review the list when they visit Lukana’s Dream or the Barnard Store."

For more information, call Lukana’s Dream at 234-9444, or Madelaine Daniel at 234-7272.

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