Project: Katrina Hope » The Fifth: Hope.

The Fifth: Hope.

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…