NAACP volunteers raise walls on an Operation Home Delivery house in Gulfport, Miss.

Gulf Coast Rising
After one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history, Gulf Coast residents regroup and rebuild--stronger than ever.

by Leigh Powell

Moving On

Slide Show

"It's the neighborhood of the future."
That's how Amy Prince, a future homeowner with Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity, describes the Habitat community under construction in Gray, La.

"God's moving on their hearts," Prince says. "It's amazing to see people coming together. It's how I want the world to be--everyone working to make everyone else's lives better. Never taking people for granted. Taking care of each other. God is knitting my and my neighbors' hearts together."

Dale Dufrene, one of Prince's new neighbors, characterizes their new community as "a God spot."

Many of the new and future residents invoke the words "quiet" and "peaceful" to describe where their Habitat houses are under construction. Seemingly, the neighborhood can be summed up this way: It feels like home.

The Loss
Like so many people along the Gulf Coast, from Alabama to Texas, the Habitat families in Gray, La., have a whole new appreciation for "home" in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, destroying property and killing hundreds in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Less than a month later, on Sept. 24, 2005, Hurricane Rita also made landfall on the Gulf Coast, extending the devastation farther west in Louisiana and into Texas. All told, more than half a million homes were damaged or destroyed.

In New Orleans alone, more than 200,000 homes were affected, and 80 percent of the city was flooded after Katrina struck and the levees were breached. In neighboring St. Bernard Parish, 100 percent of residences--approximately 26,000 homes--as well as all of the parish's businesses, received significant, if not total, damage. As of April 2006, more than 200,000 people remained displaced from New Orleans and the immediate surrounding area.

The damage, of course, encompassed much more than New Orleans proper. St. Tammany Parish, La., the coastal counties of Mississippi and into Bayou La Batre, Ala.--the hardest hit of these areas sustained damage (or complete destruction) of 80 to 90 percent of all structures.

Bay St. Louis, Miss., was one such area. After Hurricane Katrina, Prince drove her four children to see the damage there, so they could contrast it with their own "minor" damage--a cypress tree fell on one end of their house, and others across their back yard and fence; live power lines were down for several weeks. "It opened their hearts to other people," Prince says of seeing the destruction in coastal Mississippi. "It moves you. We take for granted what we have, and there are others who need help."

	Amy Prince works on her sweat-equity hours with Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity.

According to Prince, "A lot of times we get worried about things that don't matter, and when we do that, we forget how to love. Then, you see something like this--God brings out the compassion in you to help others."

Help From Habitat
As is often the case in natural disasters, hurricanes Katrina and Rita took the most devastating toll on neighborhoods and communities least financially able to recover. Because Habitat for Humanity typically builds with families who make between 25 and 50 percent of the median income in an area, the organization is a natural fit for helping to meet the housing needs along the Gulf Coast.

The unprecedented damage caused by the hurricanes called for an unprecedented response on the part of Habitat for Humanity. Habitat affliates throughout the region are leading the charge through local, grassroots efforts - as always. But, in addition, Habitat for Humanity International launched Operation Home Delivery, a long-term disaster recovery plan and the largest U.S. undertaking in the organization's history.

The Operation Home Delivery office is composed of Habitat veterans, building industry leaders and corporate executives. This eclectic group is working hand in hand with affiliates throughout the Gulf region; and, as the recovery effort continues, Operation Home Delivery also is coordinating with other organizations and building on existing partnerships to meet the ongoing needs.

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