wfn.org | Ecumenical rebuilding effort helps 12 New Orleans families

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

> Church World Service
> 475 Riverside Drive
> New York, New York 10115

Home again: Ecumenical rebuilding effort helps 12 New Orleans families

> By Matt Hackworth/CWS

> Editors:  Related hi-res photos available at
> www.churchworldservice.org/hires

NEW ORLEANS, Tuesday, May 19, 2009 -- Lionel Corley spent his first
week displaced by Hurricane Katrina not in a shelter or a hotel but
along the blazing-hot concrete ribbon of Interstate 10.

"The police had closed down the Interstate and there was no moving in
or out," Corley recalls. "We just slept in my truck."
Corley is one of a dozen Little Woods homeowners who are about to
return home thanks to Church World Service's Neighborhood: New Orleans
home rebuilding project.

Paint is hardly dry from the final, finishing touches on the four-week
rebuilding effort but it has already garnered an award from the National
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

The first-of-its-kind ecumenical effort is one of two projects to
receive the 2009 National VOAD Innovative Program of the Year Award this
week in Salt Lake City.

Neighborhood: New Orleans brought together volunteers from 10 CWS
partner agencies to focus on rebuilding homes in a single part of a city
very much still in recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

â??I think whatâ??s so unique about this project is that 10  faith-based
agencies are working on a single effort, working as one,â?? said  Bonnie
Vollmering, CWS associate director for domestic emergency response.

More than 500 people from 27 U.S. states and Canada came to New Orleans
as volunteers with one of the project partners: American Baptist
Churches USA; Brethren Disaster Ministries; Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ); Christian Reformed World Relief Committee; Lutheran Disaster
Response; Mennonite Disaster Service; Presbyterian Disaster Assistance;
Reformed Church in America; United Church of Christ; and the United
Methodist Committee on Relief.

Florence Coppola, Executive for National Disaster Ministries with the
United Church of Christ, conceived of the idea and worked with CWS to
help make it happen.  CWS brought the agencies together to work with the
Crescent Alliance Recovery Effort, the long-term recovery agency in
Orleans Parish. A long-time CWS partner in its own right, CARE helped
CWS and the partners select Little Woods as the focus neighborhood, and
the homeowners who would be included in the project.

â??We visited a number of areas but once we saw Little Woods, it was
unanimous,â?? Vollmering said. â??We knew we had work to do  there.â??

A neighborhood of mixed incomes and races, Little Woods began as a
fishing camp along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Hurricane Katrina
forced water into the neighborhood, where it sat, as high as the
roofline, for days.

The water eventually drained, and families have recovered
intermittently ever since. Some homeowners in Little Woods are waiting
on assistance to come through Louisianaâ??s labyrinthine Road Home
program. Others are in dispute with insurers or federal agencies. More
than a few find themselves like Gloria Mouton, who was defrauded out of
most of her recovery funds by unscrupulous contractors.

On May 13, Mouton, a grandmother and community volunteer, was led into
her nearly-rebuilt home by a New Orleans brass band and a parade of
dignitaries and volunteers celebrating the project.

"Itâ??s a beautiful thing to know that these people in the world will
give from their busy schedules to help someone like me," Mouton said.
"It just sends a warm feeling in my body every time I walk into this
house and see the progress they made."

> How to help

Contributions to support Church World Service emergency response and
recovery efforts may be made online, by phone (800.297.1516), or sent to
Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.

Matt Hackworth is a communications officer for Church World Service

> Media Contacts:
> Lesley Crosson, 212-870-
> 2676 lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
> Jan Dragin, 24/7, 781-925-1526 jdragin@gis.net