Rebuilding New Orleans
By DEBORAH A. MILES
August marks three years since Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, leaving 1,836 people dead and 705 missing. Parts of the French Quarter have been restored, but the 7th Ward – an area that stretches from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain – remains in shambles. The remnants of the historic Creole-style homes, built in the early 1800s to the 1940s, still lay rotting in flood silt.
“It
is very sad. The people are not getting the assistance they need from the
government,” said Kevin Kallin, a PEF Executive Board member and a
vocational instructor at Lakeview Shock Correctional Facility, Chautauqua
County.“It’s incredible, when you get into the poorer sections, you can see the area needs millions of dollars of work. The government is knocking down buildings such as housing projects, because no one is rebuilding.
“People have been literally living in an area called “tent city,” where they allowed flood victims to set up tents under a road. The government is stopping that and it is also pulling out all the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) trailers. Those people will have no place to live,” Kallin said.
Instead of just talking about the aftermath of the third strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the U.S., Kallin rolled up his sleeves and decided to do something about it.
In April, he joined a group called “Love Knows No Bounds,” and spent 10 days in New Orleans working with other volunteers to make a difference. His wife and 18-year-old son joined him. They saw first-hand another side of America, where conditions are even worse than some Third World countries.
“When we got to the 7th Ward, it was disheartening,” Kallin said. “There would be a house with someone living in it, and then there would be three or four boarded-up houses. The 9th Ward was the hardest hit area, but the 7th Ward also had more than eight feet of water.”
As Kallin spoke about the devastation and his role in pitching in, it was apparent the experience left an indelible imprint.
“My wife and I worked on one house, helping to put in new floors, painting and replacing windows. My son ended up with a crew that re-wired another house. It was fulfilling in the sense it made you feel good to help, but it was also so very sad,” Kallin said.
When asked if he would return, Kallin, without any hesitation said, “yes.”
The group of 65 people from western New York who accompanied the Kallins raised $30,000 to buy materials and equipment. None of the money was used for their own transportation or meals.
PEF also donated to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Katrina fund to help support affected members, and delegates opened their wallets at the 2005 PEF convention.
If you would like to contribute or volunteer, visit www.renew-orleans.org.
