Project: Katrina Hope…raise funds…raise walls…raise spirits

Today is most certainly a day of reflection.

We honor the memory of the more than 1,800 people who lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Katrina.  We recall the horrifying images of people stranded on rooftops, wading through the toxic waters, and packed into the Superdome and Convention Center.  We recount the hundreds of thousands of homes rendered uninhabitable, thousands of which were eventually torn down or still sit uninhabited.

However, today is more so a day for hope.

Families are rebuilding their homes–many, with the help of selfless volunteers from all over the world.  People are proud to call New Orleans home.  Businesses in Mississippi and Louisiana have reopened, schools are coming back, and some neighborhoods are bigger and better than five years ago.

The Gulf Coast has always housed a unique and vibrant culture–one that cannot be found anywhere else in this country.  It has also housed resiliency and a spirit that cannot be broken, no matter how tragic or unfair the conditions.  That resiliency is built upon hope, which can be found in both big and small ways today, the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall.  Hope can be seen in…

a fresh coat of paint.

a championship!

public transport.

growth and new life.

the renewal of a city.

Today, I urge you to hope.

With eternal hope,

Gretchen

Photos: Amanda Spillman

Posted on August 29th, 2010 by Gretchen Wieland
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While destruction is still prevalent in major sections of the Gulf Coast, even five years after Hurricane Katrina, it’s also important to focus on what has been done.  The progress in many key neighborhoods has been stunning, and this is thanks to both determined homeowners and millions of incredible volunteers.

Here’s some of the more small-scale progress:

Building a West Bank home

The completed West Bank home

Painting a retirement home in Gentilly

Hanging drywall in Violet

Cleaning up in St. Bernard Parish

Posted on August 28th, 2010 by Gretchen Wieland
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When so many people think of Hurricane Katrina, they think of the widespread and intense destruction it caused.  The familiar disturbing images are flooding our airwaves in the days leading up to the storm’s fifth anniversary.  I wanted to share with you a few photos by dedicated volunteer Amanda Spillman, a young woman from Maryland who was so touched by her volunteer trips to the Gulf that she decided to move to the middle of the destruction in the New Orleans area and tirelessly work to rebuild the homes and lives of people who lost everything.

Today, a few of her photos focus on Katrina’s destruction, which remained years after the storm:

Katrina's destruction

Katrina destruction

Katrina destruction

Katrina destruction

Posted on August 27th, 2010 by Gretchen Wieland
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Photos courtesy of Amanda Spillman:

Uptown, New Orleans

Uptown, New Orleans

Oil spill sentiments, New Orleans

Bywater, New Orleans

Posted on July 26th, 2010 by Gretchen Wieland
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If you have ever felt like you can’t catch a break, imagine feeling this way for five straight years.  Unfortunately, this has been a reality for some Gulf Coast residents for nearly half a decade.

Katrina delivered the first major punch in 2005, a blow from which the region is still desperately struggling to recover.  As much as we would all love to believe the Gulf region is back to normal from this disaster, the frank truth is that thousands remain homeless and numerous neighborhoods still sit in shambles.

More storms, numerous levels of inefficiency and other disasters to divert media attention inundated the next several years, adding jab after jab to hardworking people just trying to rebuild their lives.

Then April 20 provided what some feel is the knockout punch.  The Deepwater Horizon oil disaster killed 11 workers and has since gushed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, hindering or wiping out the jobs of thousands of workers.  The water is the livelihood of so many residents who were on the road toward stability, and the widespread effects of this unnatural disaster will be present for years to come.

With hurricane season upon us, the uncertainty and tension has become too much for some residents to bear.  Mental health illnesses, already much higher in the post-Katrina Gulf, are fully coming to the forefront.

Here’s what we at Project: Katrina Hope would ask of you:

1. Don’t forget.  Just because there is a cap on the oil leak and almost five years have passed since the hurricane, it doesn’t mean problems just go away.  These men, women and children are struggling.

2. Volunteer.  If you have the time and the resources, go down to the Gulf Coast and get a sense of the morale yourself.  As we approach this critical anniversary next month, there is still plenty of work to be done, and volunteers are the primary source of rebuilding in Louisiana and Mississippi.

3. Write a letter of hope.  If you want to provide hope to a Gulf Coast resident directly, e-mail gretchen@projectkatrinahope.com, where we can set you up with a homeowner pen pal of sorts.  We’ll deliver your handwritten or e-mailed letter directly to a resident who is struggling, giving him/her hope for the future, despite circumstances that may currently feel insurmountable.

The Gulf Coast residents have been knocked down too many times.  It’s time for us to help them back up.

With hope,

Gretchen

Posted on July 25th, 2010 by Gretchen Wieland
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