Volunteers keep coming in Project Homecoming
NEW ORLEANS – More than six years after they began throwing themselves into the rebuilding of New Orleans by the tens of thousands, the torrent of volunteers from around the country has slowed but not stopped, with yet more evidence in this recent fifth anniversary of a post- Katrina Presbyterian rebuilding program. Hours before the volunteers and staff of Project Homecoming were to celebrate the milestone at a party in Lakeview, work proceeded as usual, with volunteers in paint- spattered work clothes laboring on three new homes rising on once- vacant lots in Gentilly.
As lunchtime approached, Neil Slate, 69, a semi- retired engineer and machinist from Mission Viejo, Calif., – “think of it as 30 miles from Disneyland” – lay on his back preparing to modify an ill- fitting set of attic drop- stairs.
This is his sixth trip to New Orleans or Mississippi in as many years.
Nearby Rick and Jan Finnegan caulked a bathroom, Elaine Pappas- Puckett caulked windows and Steve Craw installed new doorway thresholds in a nearly finished threebedroom home.
They are the latest of more than 10,000 volunteers who have helped Project Homecoming rebuild more than 150 homes since the storm.
Within a year of Hurricane Katrina, Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Baptist and other Christian communities opened rebuilding agencies and taught themselves how to take advantage of tens of thousands of willing volunteers and millions of dollars in public and private sector repair money flowing into the region.
Nearly seven years later, thousands of families still need help, but their resources are all but exhausted and public and private funds are running down, said the Rev. Jean Marie Peacock, executive director of Operation Homecoming, a ministry of the Presbytery of South Louisiana.
As a result, faith- based rebuilding crews have scaled way back. But some continue: Presbyterians around Gentilly, Episcopalians in Central City, evangelicals at Habitat for Humanity in the 9th Ward, and Methodists operating without boundaries, to name a few.
The challenge now is to find money to help the remaining hard- luck cases, project directors say.
Peacock said the Presbyterian project has committed to repair or build from scratch 19 houses in Gentilly, using a grant of $ 1.25 million from the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, which also supplied the lots.
A few will be built by contractors, but most, like the one at 4765 Overton St., will be built by supervised teams of volunteers, said Kevin Krejci, Project Homecoming’s operations director.
Volunteers at the Overton street house did much of the framing below roof- level, built the kitchen, installed floors and painted.
When it’s done, probably around Memorial Day, the 1,500- square- foot home will be valued at about $ 167,000, but various subsidies will deliver it into the hands of a homeowner who meets income qualifications, for about $ 100,000, Krejci said.
Krejci said years of experience with volunteer builders has shown that, when supervised by qualified construction superintendents, their work in areas where technical licensing is not required matches that of many contractors, although it takes longer.
Whereas contractors are driven by economics to build and move on, well- supervised volunteers lavish time on projects until they’re right, Krejci said.
So it was that Slate, a volunteer, fussed over the attic stairs misaligned by a contractor.
On break a few minutes later, Slate pointed out a length of new side- yard fence installed by a team of high school and college students – still incomplete, but straight, true and plumb. Probably none had tried their hands at that before, he said.
Slate said he was one of 21 volunteers in his team organized and dispatched by the Presbyterian Church of the Master, in Mission Viejo.
They had paid their own airfare and bunked at Olive Tree Village, a residence area for volunteers off Chef Menteur Highway. Project Homecoming supplied all the logistical support. Why six trips? “Look up and down this street,” Slate said. “There’s still so much need. You drive around and you see so many people not back in their homes yet.
“Basically, we’re stand- ins for Jesus. We’re called to put our hands where our mouths are.”