Rebuilding New Orleans

In August 2006 Bay Area's Community Service Committee began its ongoing Hurricane Recovery project. From September 2006 through March 2007 the CSC led 5 trips to New Orleans, LA placing 22 volunteers in the field and accumulating 440 service hours. Volunteers from interfaith and secular communities are far and away the most productive groups responding to the needs in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and their level of success is astonishing. UU's have organized over 1500 volunteers from across the nation representing 150 congregations who have come, and often returned again and again, to assist with the recovery effort. UU Volunteers are coordinated primarily through the UUA/UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program. Other organizations/groups scheduling volunteers are Habitat for Humanity, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, the Baton Rouge Weekend Warriors, and Common Ground. Services provided include gutting houses, rebuilding homes and churches, landscaping city and community parks, and building the Frerret Street Community Center.

At work, or social events we rarely hear anyone speak of New Orleans or the Gulf Coast. It is astounding how the priorities of our government are diverted, and the general public led by the ‘if it bleeds it leads' media have lost focus on this issue. Here is a blurb published by "The Homecoming Center" operating out of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, NOLA, that may seem rhetorical, but after researching National, State, and Local government and media sources, has proven to be very accurate:

"Americans are unaware of how gravely people of the Gulf Coast region are still suffering. A flood of media nonsense has washed over the facts of life for the people of New Orleans: Nearly two years later, 200,000 people are still living in trailers. More than 250,000 evacuated residents are still scattered throughout the nation. Two year later, 70 public schools in Orleans Parish remain closed. There are no mental health services, no hospitals to serve the uninsured poor."

You can do your part not just by volunteering but by speaking out to your friends, community leaders, and to elected officials. Please help insure that Gulf Coast recovery is not ignored and our country remains committed to this effort.

 

Working in N.O. can be fun as well as fulfilling. There are no skills required and the UUA/UUSC Volunteer Coordinators provide most of the tools and work scheduling. If you would like to volunteer through the CSC or just be kept informed about current trips and activities please send you contact information to:

John McCorquodale
Community Service Committee
Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church
"Service is our Prayer"

Past reports and volunteer information

Reciprocity, March 2007
Betty Crockford, January 2007
Good Work, November 2006
Four Hours to New Orleans, October 2006
Information and News, FUUNO, UUA/UUSC - Volunteer Center
John's New Orleans Rehab Photo Gallery

Recovery Information and Volunteer Links

UUA/UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program.
Unitarian Universalist congregations and groups can take an active part in the Gulf Coast recovery work by participating in the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program.
To Volunteer please contact:
UUSC Volunteer Associate - New Orleans, Peggy Powell, uukatrina@uusc.org
Cambridge, MA at (617) 301-4322
UUSC Gulf Coast response coordinator, NOLA, Quo Vidas Breaux, qvbreaux@uusc.org
FUUNO Volunteer coordinator, NOLA, Candice Rivera, alomique@aol.com

Community partners of the UUA/UUSC - Links

The following organizations have received funds from the UUA/UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund and remain partners in recovery efforts through the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Baton Rouge - Weekend Warriors
As part of the church's ongoing Hurricane Relief & Social Justice Project, the "Weekend Warriors" of the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge are a dedicated group of volunteers who travel to New Orleans once a month to aid Unitarians in the rebuilding effort.

PICO Louisiana
PICO LIFT mission is to provide families and religious congregations in Louisiana with a voice in the decisions that shape their lives and communities.

All Congregations Together
All Congregations Together, ACT, is a congregation-based community organization dedicated to empowering people to effect change and improve the quality of life for our families and communities in Greater New Orleans.

Common Ground
Common Ground's mission is to provide short term relief for victims of hurricane disasters in the gulf coast region, and long term support in rebuilding the communities affected in the New Orleans area.

Northshore Disaster recovery
We seek to respond to those who were uninsured or under-insured and whose unmet needs will not be covered by relief systems such as FEMA, the Small Business Administration or the Red Cross. Northshore Disaster Recovery, Inc. (NDRI) will provide spiritual, emotional, and physical resources to those affected by Hurricane Katrina, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, handicap, or religious preference.

Habitat for Humanity - Gulf Coast
The Gulf Recovery Effort is Habitat for Humanity International's response to the destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 when the two storms struck the southeast US coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Habitat - NOLA
New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity is mobilizing for an unprecedented rebuilding effort. In 2007, NOAHH plans on building hundreds of new homes in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes.

Community Links

Fist Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans
"..enter into this celebration of resilience and resurrection. For we are all vessels eternally rising out of the water alive... Alive... with a purpose and strength not our own. Be still with me and enter, softly, into this haven of unbound love and gratitude."
- Rev. Marta Valentin

Community Church Unitarian Universalist, New Orleans
Community Church is an active and friendly Unitarian Universalist congregation in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like all of the best UU churches, we are made up of people who take both a rational and active approach to our faith. We are a congregation of people who seek the truth, strive for a better world and commit ourselves to living thoughtfully.

NHS of New Orleans
NHS has been a local non-profit for 30 years, providing comprehensive services for first-time homebuyers and existing homeowners through counseling, classroom training, loan packaging, and construction management services. Freret Street Festival

The Road Home
The Road Home program is the largest single housing recovery program in U.S. history. The program's objective is to help our residents get back into a home or apartment as quickly and fairly as possible.

Louisiana Rebuilds
Louisiana Rebuilds. info was established to be a trusted, online destination for residents affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by providing critical information for those who have returned home as well as those who are still displaced.

Beacon of Hope
Our mission is to assist all homeowners in the City of New Orleans in the rebuilding process of their beloved homes and provide a sanctuary to neighbors looking for a way back home.

Louisiana Environmental Action Network
LEAN was founded to help Louisiana citizens change the balance of power and challenge the insanity of continued economic and ecological suicide as practiced Louisiana-style.

Katrina Research Project on Equity
The Katrina Research Project on Equity (KRPE) is a clearinghouse and network for research on the role of race and class in the Post-Katrina recovery process in the Gulf Coast and in displaced communities.

Katrina Information Network
The Katrina Information Network (KIN) is a collaboration of groups in the Gulf and across the country to build power for change. Through e-advocacy, grassroots pressure, local actions, resolutions and selective buying, we can build greater pressure for what's right.

People's Hurricane Relief Fund
The mission of the People's Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) is to win the right of return with equity and justice for all those displaced as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by building a multi-national mass movement, and to ensure that the civil and human rights of all New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents are respected and implemented throughout the United States.

Louisiana Speaks
Louisiana Speaks is a long-term planning initiative of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) that is supported with private funds provided through the