New Book by Hurricane Survivors Features Low-Cost, Creative Recipes; All Proceeds go to Charity

Aug. 15, 2011 - PRLog -- Gulfport, Miss. – Changing Lives Press announces the upcoming release of the new book Mailbox Muffins and Other Recipes from the Gulf Coast Homeless. The book, to be released Aug. 26 in paperback, shares the creative recipes of once-homeless residents of the Gulf Coast who are now living in the Oregon Place apartment complex in Gulfport, Miss.

The book includes a foreword by Mississippi First Lady Marsha Barbour, who recounts her time on the ground during the early days of Hurricane Katrina six years ago and the ways in which that experience changed her life. Mrs. Barbour also praises Oregon Place for the opportunities it has provided to the homeless.

All proceeds from Mailbox Muffins and Other Recipes from the Gulf Coast Homeless will go to further the mission of Oregon Place, a recent experiment in low-income housing. More information on the book can be found at http://www.MailboxMuffins.com.

One of the book’s main contributors is Bobby Kelly, a current Oregon Place resident who was living in a tent just outside Gulfport, Miss., when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Kelly miraculously survived Hurricane Katrina by clinging to the porch of a nearby house, and is now living at Oregon Place while he works on his high school equivalency.

In Mailbox Muffins and Other Recipes from the Gulf Coast Homeless, Kelly and his fellow Oregon Place residents share their methods for cooking on a budget, such as using cans for cooking pots, discarded mailboxes as ovens, and tuna containers as muffin tins.

Said Changing Lives Press President Francesca Minerva: “There are lots of cookbooks that raise money for the homeless but none with recipes by the homeless. Not only does it show readers how to make some delicious meals on a budget, it will also warm your heart. Bobby Kelly and the other contributors to this book are a real inspiration, and there is no better cause going on right now than Oregon Place.”

Oregon Place—the brainchild of developer William Richardson of Jackson, Mississippi—offers apartments to homeless Gulf Coast residents, many of whom would otherwise be sleeping in the woods. It is not a homeless shelter, but has income-based rental rates that tenants can qualify for by earning less than 50 percent of the area median income. Nonprofit agencies work with the tenants, helping them sign up for the support and training they need to regain financial independence and permanent homes.

Mrs. Barbour, Kelly and Richardson will be made available for local and national media appearances and news segments prior to the book’s release. Interested bookers should contact Changing Lives Press to schedule interviews.

Changing Lives Press is new a publishing house focused on books about lives that have changed and books about how to change lives. Additional information found at http://www.ChangingLivesPress.com.

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Changing Lives Press is new a publishing house focused on books about lives that have changed and books about how to change lives.