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 Helping to Rebuild Along the Gulf Coast In 2005, Hurricane Katrina first came ashore in Bay St. Louis, MS, and lives have still not returned to normal. During
the week of November 10, 2008, BucksMont
Katrina Relief, in conjunction with CityTeam
(cityteam.org),
sponsored The Hillsborough- based Artisans Group, along with four member companies
of the Central NJ Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry
(cjnari.org), plus eight companies from PA and Chicago NARI for a
week of rebuilding homes and a community food center from Bay St. Louis to
Carriere, MS. We met people who had experienced an extraordinary event by surviving
Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav, and in the process; being
grateful for the basics, and showing resilience, and
a proactive attitude, that the rest of us should admire. We
saw people whose home had been swept away and lost everything they owned, eaten
in a soup kitchen and lived in a tent for months, before moving into a trailer
where they still live three years later. This has put ones own problems in
a new perspective. Losing money in a 401k, having the garden eaten by
deer, or having to put one's beloved family pet on insulin suddenly no longer seem to be
the kind of “crises” that they were before we went to the Gulf! While we saw many homes and other buildings that are once again habitable, the number that are still damaged was astounding. In many cases, all that remains in the home's former location are the posts that supported it up to 16 feet above the ground, or just a slab. A former nurse was told that if
she left the hospital as Katrina was approaching, she would no longer be allowed
to work in any of the Gulf Coast states. Her children didn't even know
whether she was still alive. A retired police officer told us about the
destruction of the home in which he had been born and raised. A group from
the Central Jersey and the Bucks-Mont (PA) Chapter had rebuilt it in 2007. Artist Lori Gordon is a resident
of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina
upended her life. With her home, studio and all of her supplies washed
away by the 35 foot storm surge and 150 mile per hour winds which obliterated
her community, Gordon returned to work using the only materials which were
available to her. Five weeks after the event, Gordon began collecting
rubble and transforming it into works of art. She has received
international recognition and national acclaim for "The
Katrina Collection", which may be found in public and private collections
around the world and has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered
and MSNBC.COM's series Rising From Ruin. Again and again, we heard similar anecdotes and received such heart-felt gratitude that made all of us feel truly honored to be able to help these fellow Americans. This is what JFK meant by, "Ask not what your country can do for you...", and President Bush, Sr. meant by, "1000 points of light", and just one of the great social causes that The Artisans Group supports. CityTeam’s Disaster Response Team is based in Philadelphia, PA. Over the past three years, CityTeam has assisted in rebuilding over 200 homes on the Gulf Coast with the help of volunteer teams like Central Jersey, BucksMont, PA, and Chicago NARI. As we approach this holiday season, thousands of families are still without a place to call home. If you would like more information on how you can help, please visit their website at www.CityTeam.org. The Central Jersey Chapter of NARI is a not-for-profit trade association committed to the service of the professional remodeling industry; representing professional remodeling contractors, product manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, trade and consumer publications, utilities and lending institutions. In addition to representing the Industry, NARI is a staunch ally of the nation's homeowners.
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