Desire Street Ministries

[Kurt]

Keeping up with Danny Wuerffel, a Fort Walton Beach native, legendary Gator, and NOLA hero.

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/LOCAL/50902005/1078/news

Danny Wuerffel knows he is basically homeless. He has seen pictures of his house in New Orleans.

"Water up to the roof," said the former Florida quarterback on Thursday. "We've lost a lot of stuff."

But that isn't his biggest concern right now. Safe and sound after escaping Hurricane Katrina, Wuerffel is devoting all of his attention to the people he works with in the ministry that has become his passion.

The two breaks in the levee in New Orleans occurred in two bad places for Wuerffel - one near his house and the other near the Desire Street Ministries where he has helped so many underprivileged youth.

As a result, Wuerffel has been working from his parent's home in Destin trying to track down people he works with and their families, and helping them as much as possible.

One of those families fled to Texas, but ran out of money and was booted out of the hotel where they were staying.

"There were 35 of them but we finally got them into some housing (Thursday)," he said. "That's where my focus and energy are right now, helping these people. We lost a lot but we're going to be fine. Many of the people we work with are not. We're trying to find them and help them.

"It has been a crazy day and there are a lot more of them. We may set up an office here and try to get things done because there's no telling when we can go back. It may be weeks or months. I look at it as a great opportunity to do some great things for people."

Wuerffel, his wife, Jessica, and son, Jonah, left New Orleans last Saturday for Folsom, La., so they would be able to leave the state quickly if the storm continued on its path. On Sunday morning, they went to Natchez, Miss., to wait things out.

"By Monday night, we were seeing video of the devastation," Wuerffel said. "It was just unbelievable. You see things like that and think that's somewhere else but then it's where you live."

Wuerffel said he does not plan to move from New Orleans, where he played briefly in the NFL and eventually settled to work with Desire Street, despite what happened.

"We're committed to helping people in a part of New Orleans where nobody wants to help," he said. "That's not going to change."

He said he knows that so many people want to help him rebuild the ministry and don't want to go through agencies. The best way is to mail a check, payable to Desire Street Ministries to:

Whitney National Bank
Mail Teller
1716 Mangum Road
Houston, TX 77092

The other way is to donate electronically through www.networkforgood.org and enter the keyword "Desire Street Ministries" and the state as Louisiana.

The web site charges a 3% fee.

"To know your house is under water is tough," he said. "But what we really want to do is help the people who are less fortunate. I know a lot of people will want to help."

http://www.desirestreet.org/ministries/index.html

 

[TooFarTampa]

Thank you Kurt. I've been thinking about Danny all week, wondering what will happen with his ministry program. I saw this woman and her little baby after they had waded through the water to get out of the Desire Street projects, and it just tore at my heart. At least now Danny will have a lot of help in doing his good works.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I believe I saw the NOLA Mayor wearing a tee-shirt that read, "DESIRE." He should have been wearing one that read, "Dial 9-1-1" or "S-O-S."


It sounds as though Danny Wuerffel's Desire Street Ministries program is a wonderful thing, and I can understand his passion.

 

[Kurt]

UF ASSISTING WUERFFEL:The University Athletic Association is pledging to donate $50,000 to Danny Wuerffel's Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans, which was basically destroyed by Hurricane Katrina last week. The proceeds will come from the Gators' pay-per-view game Saturday with Louisiana Tech.

Wuerffel is the director of development at Desire Street, which provides health, housing, economic development, education and recreation to those living in the surrounding Desire neighborhood.

Donations to the ministry can be made by sending a check to Desire Street Ministries, P.O. Box 956429, Duluth, Ga., 30095, or going online at www.desirestreet.org.

 

[Kurt]

http://florida.scout.com/2/435245.html

?We are looking to restart our school --- Desire Street Academy --- as a satellite boarding school where we can provide room board and a nurturing environment for the students,? he said.

And while plans are being made to re-open the school, the search goes on to find the students. That is a daunting task since families have been relocated all over the southeastern United States and Texas. ?We had 192 boys in our school and we are finding them daily in shelters around our country,? said Wuerffel, who admitted that 30-50 percent of the kids have been accounted for. ?We have a lot of them in Texas, some in Tennessee, some in Oklahoma and Arkansas.?

 

[Kurt]

http://tampatrib.com/Sports/MGBOT4UFCDE.html

Desire Street Academy stood in the neighborhood once ranked as the nation's worst. The Rev. Mo Leverett founded Desire Street Ministries in 1990 with the hope of saving the neighborhood's residents, spiritually and literally.
Wuerffel, who joined the ministry full-time after retiring from the NFL in February 2004, hopes to start classes at Desire Street Academy on Oct. 3. Staffers have found a conference center near Jackson, Miss., and they hope to relocate the 192 male students who were to attend the school in New Orleans -- assuming all 192 can be found. Once there, the boys would have shelter, three meals a day and familiar teachers.

Tears rolled down the former University of Florida quarterback's face Wednesday morning as he thought of the people still trapped in his adopted hometown, the students and families who relied on his Desire Street Ministries and the rebuilding job ahead.

Wuerffel said he has had those moments in the days since he, wife Jessica and 21-month-old son Jonah fled New Orleans with their dog, some pictures, a few documents, a video camera, four changes of clothes and two pillows. They rode out Hurricane Katrina in Natchez, Miss., then drove on to Destin.

At one point, Wuerffel saw a photo of his neighbor's house. Water had risen to the roof. Wuerffel doesn't expect to salvage anything.

"We just re-learned the difference between want and need," said Wuerffel, whose parents have his 1996 Heisman Trophy at their home in the Panhandle. "How much time do we spend saying, 'We need this, we need this' and get bent out of shape?

"Now we've got nothing, and yet we have everything we need. We've got my wife and son and food and shelter."

Desire Street Ministries, where Wuerffel is the director of development, needs considerably more. Wuerffel and other Desire Street staffers have spent the past week posting fliers at shelters around the country as they try to locate the students of their school, Desire Street Academy. They've found some at shelters in Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and Oklahoma. Others remain missing.

One of the missing is an eighth-grader named Heath. Wuerffel said he and his wife paid Heath's scholarship to the academy, and Heath and his wide smile were regular visitors to Wuerffel's office.

"My heart will be broken if we don't find Heath," Wuerffel said.