As part of a weeklong series of events to commemorate the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Association are joining with Gulf Coast partner organizations in a "29 homes in 29 days" campaign to help hurricane survivors return to New Orleans.

The initiative was highlighted on Monday, August 27 as volunteers organized by the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program, together with New Orleans-based All Congregations Together (ACT), put finishing touches on two of the homes and moved donated furniture into them. The work was featured as part of a news conference in the New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward to call attention to the extraordinary contributions of grassroots organizations and volunteers in the Gulf Coast recovery effort.

Scheduled to speak at the news conference were UUA Moderator Gini Courter, UUSC’s Gulf Coast Response Coordinator Quo Vadis Breaux, ACT Executive Director Mary Fontenot, Rev. Jim VanderWeele of the Community Church Unitarian Universalist in New Orleans, and Kevin Polk, executive director of Emergency Interiors, a New Orleans-based nonprofit raising funds to provide furniture for the rebuilt homes.

"The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina sadly reaffirms the total failure of government agencies at all levels to respond to the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives," said UUSC President Charlie Clements. "However, we can celebrate the accomplishments of many local grassroots organizations and thousands of volunteers from across the country who continue to work tirelessly to help New Orleans residents return to their homes. We also recognize that returning everyone to their homes will unfortunately take many more years."

The UUA-UUSC volunteers working in New Orleans during this period are a group of teenagers from inner-city Boston neighborhoods who are part of a program of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry, and a group of adults organized by the UUA’s Thomas Jefferson District that includes Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Tennessee and Georgia.

Many events highlight recovery issues

The "29 homes in 29 days" initiative is one of many events taking place to commemorate the second anniversary of what has been described as the worst natural disaster in United States history. Others in which UUSC and UUA staff will participate include:

• On Tuesday, August 28, a Policy Forum and Town Hall meetings at Dillard University in New Orleans.

• On Tuesday, August 28, a HANO/HUD Public Housing Take Back Campaign in New Orleans to highlight the failures of the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

• On Wednesday, August 29, a Katrina Sunrise Meditation organized by UUSC partner STEPS coalition, at Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Miss.

• On Wednesday, August 29, several rallies and memorial services around New Orleans, including a "funeral procession’ in remembrance of public housing residents who lost their lives during the hurricane tragedy.

For a more detailed list of events, visit the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.

The "29 homes in 29 days" initiative featured on August 27 is part of the larger "1,000 More Off the Floor" campaign of Emergency Interiors, a nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering donated furniture to disaster survivors. The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 29 was planned as the symbolic launching pad to distribute donated furniture to 1,000 displaced families along the Gulf Coast by December 2007.

"There was such a wonderful outpouring of help after Katrina hit," said Polk, the director of Emergency Interiors. "But the sad truth is that the rebuilding process is expected to take 10 years or longer. That means we will continue to have families living on the floor."

"The financial cost of getting these families started again is staggering, and is far larger than available resources. Even as family breadwinners return to work and disaster recovery programs help finance rebuilding their homes, their other needs — ranging from temporary accommodations to utilities assistance to food distribution to furniture assistance — often remain unmet."

Posted August 27, 2007