A week after Hurricane Katrina, Kay Mitchell was tossing furniture, pictures, books - everything from her parents' house. The water was gone, leaving behind carpet that needed to be pulled up, appliances full of muck, rotten food, dead fish. The smell was enough to make Mitchell gag through her mask.

In the southern Mississippi town of Kiln - population 2,000 - the little post office, meat markets and hospitals were gone, replaced by lawn mowers and boats in the road, cars stuck in trees, houses blown into the middle of streets.

Mitchell, a Roanoke resident, was in Kiln after the storm. There was no Red Cross, no FEMA - only big-hearted people from faith-based organizations offering a little help.

The nation's attention was focused on bigger cities, like New Orleans.

But the people in Kiln - Mitchell's people - lost just as much.

The town is "so small, they get overlooked," she said.

Soon, that will change.

The unincorporated town of Kiln is being adopted by a coalition of 27 Roanoke-area churches and temples.

The plan - announced Friday by retired Circuit Court Judge Diane Strickland, who is coordinating the effort - includes asking members of the interfaith coalition to collect donations to rebuild the storm-damaged community, which lies 10 miles inland.

Then, starting in mid-October, teams of 10 people - each from a different congregation - will travel to Kiln for weeklong work shifts. Teams will rotate in, cleaning and rebuilding until all work is done.

"There will be plenty to do there for years, unfortunately," said Strickland, who helped initiate the group. "We're asking each congregation to do whatever they can."

Initially, Strickland said, teams will clean homes covered with mold and mud, rip out ruined carpeting and furniture. They will deliver tents, generators and plastic furniture so residents can continue living camp-style until homes are rebuilt.

Dusty Kenyon Fielder, co-pastor at Roanoke's Covenant Presbyterian Church, will urge her congregation to give money, volunteer for work teams or collect school bags for Kiln-area schoolchildren. The community lost two of its four elementary schools and supplies, yet there is hope of starting classes by the middle of next month.

"It's been hard to know exactly how to help," she said Friday. "As of this afternoon, we know what we're asking for."

The idea for adopting a community was born shortly after the Aug. 29 hurricane flooded and destroyed the Gulf Coast. Strickland began calling her minister friends. She knew most houses of worship would want to do something, and she decided a unified group would be more effective than individual churches.

Initially, there were rumblings that storm survivors would be sent to places in Virginia such as Fort Pickett. If that happened, the coalition was prepared to provide evacuees with jobs and transportation.

When survivors didn't come north, Strickland and coalition leaders decided the group would go to them. The only question was where.

The answer came from Mitchell, whose parents, Dudley and Janet English, retired from Tallahassee, Fla., to Kiln several years ago. The couple evacuated to Florida before Katrina hit, but returned to Mississippi soon afterward.

While helping her parents clean their waterlogged home, Mitchell noticed there was no aid in the small town. During her weeklong stay, she saw the National Guard and Army distribute ice and water. But the big agencies, she concluded, were too overwhelmed elsewhere.

Mitchell connected with the interfaith group through Strickland. Mitchell works for Norfolk Southern Corp., the same company that employs Strickland's sister-in-law.

"It's so great. They need that kind of help," Mitchell said. "It's just so hard to believe all that stuff was there one day, and then it's gone."

Known as "the kill," the Hancock County town covers 13 square miles and has a median household income of $38,000 a year.

The tiny area near the coast is the hometown of Green Bay Packers football player Brett Favre. His mother, Bonita, and grandfather survived the storm in their attic when their home filled with water in less than 10 minutes. As a result, the home will likely be bulldozed.

Across the street from Mitchell's parents' house lies Stennis Space Center, where solid-rocket boosters are tested for space shuttles.

Now, the area still lacks electricity. Telephone service may not be restored until November.

Coalition leaders, including Strickland, contacted the area's sheriff and mayor, and she expects help to be greeted with open arms.

Strickland said she hopes they make a difference.

"I'm confident we will."