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Gulf recovery effort -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l 1
Gulf recovery effort
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Debra Reid, a licensed paramedic and a large-animal rescue volunteer, and her four children shared one room in a homeless shelter for a year while waiting and working for a new Habitat house.
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Rebuilding one family at a time
An eight-part series tells the stories of eight families who survived Hurricane Katrina and find hope in becoming Habitat homeowners.
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Going the distance on the Gulf Coast – with your help
Survivors of the 2005 hurricanes tell time simply: Everything happened “before the storm” or “after the storm.” Katrina has become the line of demarcation between normal life and now, between living and simply surviving.
Two years later the destruction of property and the displacement of human beings feel surprisingly raw. And yet, the sense of hope is palpable.
Within weeks after Hurricane Katrina barreled across the Gulf Coast, Habitat for Humanity International and its affiliates had started building houses and rebuilding lives.
The commitment has only grown stronger and deeper. With the help of tens of thousands of volunteers, nearly 1,300 homes have already been built or are under construction in the Gulf Coast Recovery Program in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.
And every month, Habitat workers and volunteers start working on 52 more homes. For perspective, consider that before the storm, Habitat built 57 homes a year along the Gulf Coast.
Two years after Hurricane Katrina, in New Orleans’ St. Bernard Parish, hastily spray-painted numbers still mark abandoned houses; plywood sheets remain nailed where doors and windows should be; and gaping holes in rooftops bear witness to the most desperate moments. Along Hwy. 90 between Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., battered signs advertise one waterfront business after another that was reduced to a concrete slab or a few cockeyed pilings two years ago.
Two years later, people still talk about what was lost. But most often, they also talk about what’s possible.
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