Katrina Relief Pictures

All builing must be 16ft over sea level. This is the house I worked on for a week. Its first floor is at 12ft, roof starts at about 20ft.... thats high... a bit high for my liking.

I went with MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service). They've done about 30 homes so far and work on about 5-7 at a time. This one was just starting. The people now live in two Home Depot sheds right behind where we where pouring the foundation.

I did not take many damage photo's this time since this was my second trip down. I was also there in July. Besides a HUGE difference in the climate, not much has changed in 7 months. This is about typical of what was left after the storm.

...and this is why I do this. We had a chance to see a house dedication this time. It put a real personal touch to the whole thing. This house was built for a grand mother who also houses her daughter and grand children. Alot of these families have complicated histories, the aid we give has no strings attached however though the process the family gets tied to a local church who continues to see that they get back on their feet.

This whole thing happened 2.5 years ago. The pictures of the area from before the storm are remarkable. It was a very nice and rather affluent area. You can't imagine the damage... it was complete. The area we worked in had nearly 30ft of water. The houses that we where building will be destroyed if another Katrina comes though. The people with money pretty much moved and built elsewhere. It sounds like if you had insurance you probably ended up better off than you where. Those who are left are mostly lower income people who can't afford to rebuild. FEMA and other aid agencies are there, but many people do fall though the cracks... frankly its often by their own doing. The area right now has about 3x the national avg for murder, drugs, sucides, etc. After the storm the only industry to really bounce back was the Casino's. The gov't loosed some building restrictions and helped push them back up to speed with the hope that they would drive job growth and bring tourism back. Some of that has happened, however the average casino job does not pay enough to help someone rebuild from scratch. Lots of work to be done... thats for sure. I'm not sure if I'll have the change to do a 3rd trip but I'd do it in a heart beat.

... who's that guy?

.... we do also have fun on these trips :-)

That's a wonderful thing to do Neil and help the helpless. I do Shriners and veteran issues while my wife faithfully sends 30 lb pkgs to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan each month. When one can help, even a tiny bit, it is good for everyone..

GREAT JOB NEIL!!!!