wfn.org | CWS - New Orleans' Families Return to Like-New Homes

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Church World Service
> 475 Riverside Drive
> New York, New York 10115
> (212) 870-2061

Media Contacts

Lesley Crosson, Church World Service, (212) 870-2676,
lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net
In New Orleans: Matt Hackworth, Church World Service, cell phone:
(908)
420-8630

> MEDIA ADVISORY

4 Years Later, New Orleans' Little Woods Families Return to Like-New
Homes

One month, 500 volunteers: 12 homes rebuilt in all but forgotten Little
Woods

Editors, Producers: Multiple visual opportunities and interviews. A
mulled-box for broadcast media will be available. Camera throw for
ceremony approximately 25 feet.

LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN, NEW ORLEANS, Thurs. May 9, 2009-- After waiting
four years for repairs to her long-time home in Katrina-ravaged New
Orleans --and despairing that they would ever happen-- Gloria Mouton
will open the door next week (Wed. May 13) to her like-new house in the
still neglected Lake Pontchartrain community of Little Woods.

A "second line" brass band and parade of well-wishers, neighbors,
volunteer builders and visiting notables seemed like the right thing to
do.

Mouton is one of 12 Little Woods homeowners and families who will be
fated New Orleans style, as they're led in parade to a ribbon cutting
ceremony celebrating the completion of a 12-home rebuild project staged
over the past month by more than 500 volunteers from across the United
States.

The "Neighborhood: New Orleans" rebuild initiative, spearheaded by
humanitarian agency Church World Service, was the first national
ecumenical volunteer effort in New Orleans, using revolving teams from
10 different denominations, working side by side.

WHAT:

Neighborhood: New Orleans Little Woods Rebuild
12-Home Project Completion Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

WHERE:

A second line-style parade led by the Trinity brass band will assemble
at the park pavilion on Currant Avenue and will lead the procession to
the
Mouton home at 14041 Currant Avenue, a few blocks away.

> WHEN:
> Wednesday May 13, 2009
> 9:45 AM: Participants gather at Pavilion
> 10:00 AM: Parade begins, moving down Currant Avenue to the Moulton home

10:20 AM: Brief Service and Remarks in front of Mouton Home

Following remarks, homeowner Gloria Mouton will join Church World
Service CEO John McCullough for ribbon cutting and transfer of her new
house keys.

> WHO:
> Little Woods home rebuild recipients:

Homeowners selected for the project will attend the ceremonies. In
addition to Mouton's 14041 Currant Road home, addresses of other houses
completed include:

8056 Gus Street, 8058 Gus Street, 7555 MacKenzie Street, 7500
Smokewood Street, 7631 Tricia Court, 7573 Avon Park Boulevard, 7584 Avon
Park Boulevard, 7765 Down man Road, 6900 Camberley Drive, 7022 Hayed
Boulevard, 7583 Forest Glen Road, 7587 Forest Glen Road, 10411 Castled
Drive, and 10934 Currant Boulevard.

> Attending notables include:

The Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director and CEO, global
humanitarian agency Church World Service

Ellen or Simmons, Director, Crescent Alliance Recovery Effort, Orleans
Parish

Florence A. Capella, Executive for National Disaster Ministries, Global
Sharing Of Resources, Wider Church Ministries, United Church of Christ

Kevin Massey, Director, Lutheran Disaster Response, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America

Roy Winter, Executive Director, Brethren Disaster Ministries

Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, Executive Director, National
Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA

Ken George, National Ministries National Coordinator for Intercultural
Ministries, Direct Human Services, American Baptist Churches USA

Tom Hazelwood, Assistant General Secretary for Disaster Response in the
United States, United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR),
General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church

WHY LITTLE WOODS:

In the once-colorful summer fishing camp community, now dubbed an
historic district, about half of the homes in Little Woods are still
unoccupied and unrecovered. "We picked this area because it hasn't
received much attention,
and flooding from Hurricane Katrina in most cases reached the
rooftops," said Bonnie Vollmering, Church World Service Associate
Director for Domestic Emergency Response.

By repairing homes across the neighborhood, Vollmering says the agency
hopes momentum for recovery will build. The homeowners who've received
assistance had exhausted their resources and all other possibilitiesâ? ¹in
some cases, more than once.

> BACKGROUND:

CWS was among early responders to hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
providing emergency aid and equipment for schools' recovery and
assisting in the formation of long-term recovery organizations to help
the most vulnerable survivors. Those church agencies participating in
the Little Woods rebuild also have been active in the region's recovery
since the devastation.

In collaboration with Crescent Alliance Recovery Effort (CARE) and
Church World Service, church groups who participated in the project
include:

American Baptist Churches USA, the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Church of the
Brethren Disaster Ministries, Lutheran Disaster Response, Mennonite
Disaster Service, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in
America Global Mission, the United Church of Christ, and United
Methodist Committee on Relief.

> ###