Slidell, Louisiana, family gets a fresh start with Habitat for Humanity

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NEWS
An Operation Home Delivery Newsletter
Slidell, La., family gets a fresh start with Habitat for Humanity
efore Hurricane Katrina hit,
East St. Tammany Habitat for
Humanity in Slidell, La., had already
approved Felicia Claude and her
two children, 16-year-old Stacie and
10-year-old John, as a partner family.
Felicia had contributed “sweat equity”
by working on other Habitat houses.
Construction would begin on her home
as soon as East St. Tammany Habitat
could raise enough funds. Without a
home of their own, Felicia’s family of
three crowded into a single room in her
parents’ house.
Felicia hoped each day might be the
day Habitat would call to let her know
it was time to build her house.
Then Hurricane Katrina struck,
slamming Slidell with wind gusts
exceeding 190 miles per hour and a
storm surge up to 26 feet. The storm
filled Felicia’s childhood home with
four feet of water, leaving the house
uninhabitable. The entire household
moved in with Felicia’s brother. Felicia
and her children were again crowded
into a single room, this time in an even
more crowded house.
Felicia’s dream of homeownership
seemed further away than ever. “I
thought it would be another setback,”
Felicia said. Then she received the
phone call she’d been awaiting for more
than a year. It was time to build her
house. “I was very surprised.”
Construction on Felicia’s house
began more than 800 miles away
in Roanoke, Va. Volunteers with
80 Habitat for Humanity affiliates
throughout the United States and
Canada have participated in Operation
Home Delivery’s “home-in-a-box”
phase, which enabled volunteers to get
a jump-start on reconstruction before
it was feasible to prepare construction
sites and begin building in the
hurricane-ravaged areas. Some 400 of
these house frames will be sent to Gulf
Coast locations.
In Roanoke, WSLS, the NBC
affiliate, hosted a telethon to help
Roanoke Habitat raise the funds
for three “homes in a box.” Enough
financial support poured in to build
four homes. Hundreds of volunteers
from around the east coast gathered
at Roanoke’s civic center to hammer
together the 2 X 4s that would become
the homes’ walls. Volunteers raised the
walls, screwing the framework of each
house together to ensure a perfect fit.
They color-coded the walls for each
house, numbered the interior and
exterior walls, then took the screws out
and packed the framed walls into crates
to ship to Louisiana.
Back in Slidell, East St. Tammany
Habitat for Humanity had gone back to
work as soon as residents were allowed
to return to their devastated parish.
State funding enabled the Habitat
affiliate, which had consisted of only
two part-time staff members prior to
Katrina, to hire more staff. Everyone in
the office focused on fielding calls from
out-of-town volunteers and finding
Felicia Claude, who thought Hurricane Katrina
would be another setback on the road to
homeownership, thanks those who helped
her provide a home for her family.
places for them to stay.
The hurricane severely damaged 85
percent of Slidell’s buildings. Even one
year later, many Slidell homeowners are
still in litigation with their insurance
companies and have not been able
to rebuild and move back home. As
a result, like other Habitat affiliates
on the Gulf Coast, East St. Tammany
Habitat has lost its volunteer and
donor base. “We are dependent on
other people to come and volunteer
with us,” said Nancy Wood, executive
director of East St. Tammany Habitat
continued on page 4
Habitat for
Humanity Affiliate
Snapshots
Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity
created a subdivision dedicated to
hurricane-affected families. Bayou
Blue located in Gray, La., now has 53
houses on the ground all scheduled
to be completed in September. They
will be developing an additional 26-lot
subdivision in Galliano. Bayou Area
covers Lafourche and Terrebonne
parishes which suffered damage from
both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane
Rita.
Bay St. Louis and Waveland, on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast, were devastated
by Katrina’s eye. At the time the storm
hit, there was no Habitat affiliate in
that area. Habitat for Humanity
Metro Jackson of Jackson, Miss.,
answered the call by extending their
service area three hours south to help
affected families in Hancock County.
In August, Willow Creek Church of
Chicago sent more than 200 volunteers
to blitz-build seven houses in Bay St.
Louis. With these seven, there are
now a total of 12 Habitat homes under
construction in these two towns. Thank
you, Willow Creek!
Calcasieu Area Habitat for
Humanity in Lake Charles, La., needs
volunteers! Lake Charles was in the
direct path of Hurricane Rita. Every
member of the affiliate board was
personally affected; all have FEMA
numbers. Though at last report there
were still 5,000 homeless due to the
storm, volunteer housing is available.
Please consider spending a week — or
more — helping families in need in
Lake Charles.
Habitat for Humanity of
Lauderdale County in Meridian, Miss.,
hosted a Katrina anniversary blitz
build the week of Aug. 28. This build
will house four families who evacuated
from the storm. Despite the push to
build a total of 12 houses this year for
evacuees, Lauderdale is also building
three houses for its local families in
need.
During Hurricane Rita, Beaumont
Habitat for Humanity in eastern Texas
lost the roof on the warehouse that
houses their offices and ReStore. The
affiliate office staff spent the next six
months working in a10 x 20 trailer at
the back of the property. Even with the
cramped quarters, this affiliate initiated
a 29-house “rolling blitz” to build
homes for affected families in their
area. Four houses are occupied, and six
more were dedicated Aug. 20.
Harrison County Habitat for
Humanity in Biloxi, Miss., is working
on 13 homes which will complete
“Habitat Village,” a subdivision the
affiliate started several years ago.
HCHFH is also partnering with 84
Lumber to build 20 homes. Two of
these homes are already “dried in,” and
groundbreakings on several more will
take place in the coming weeks.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater
Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, La., is
building with evacuees from across
the region. Working with the “Baptist
Builders,” HFHGBR is kicking off
the first of several blitz builds in
September. Baptists from across the
country are mobilizing to the area to
provide the muscle behind this project.
Pearl River HFH is looking for
affordable land in and around the city
of Picayune, Miss. The city’s population
has more than tripled since the
hurricane. Inquiries have overwhelmed
the affiliate, but they are rising to the
challenge, working to double or triple
their house production over that of
previous years.
On Sept. 25, Habitat for Humanity
in Mobile County will “dry in” 10
houses in 10 days in Irvington, Ala.,
using walls that have been constructed
by people all over the country. The
affiliate needs about 150 volunteers to
raise those walls and will need more
volunteers throughout the fall to start
five more houses each subsequent
week.
HFH Jackson County (Ocean
Springs, Miss.) is working closely with
Our Towns HFH (Cornelius, N.C.) to
learn from them about growing the
affiliate’s ability to serve its service
community. Leadership from both
affiliates have been having conference
calls on a regular basis and met at the
HFH National Leadership Conference.
Our Towns has several groups of staff
and volunteers scheduled to come
and work with the affiliate throughout
this fall and winter. Working with the
Salvation Army, HFHJC is receiving
referrals of buyer-ready families
from caseworkers who are providing
on-the-ground services to families in
the county. Working with a financial
gift from Square D, the affiliate is in
planning with Gautier city officials
to build a neighborhood pavilion
and playground in a subdivision. The
affiliate expects to begin construction
later this fall.
Volunteers and skilled house
leaders are needed NOW everywhere
on the coast!
continued from page 1
for Humanity.
Volunteers from around the
country, including some from Roanoke,
came to build Felicia’s house. A couple
dozen volunteers took vacation time
and drove to Slidell to continue the
work they had begun in Virginia.
Many of the same volunteers who
had built the “home in a box,” along
with others from various states, now
put the frame together again — this
time for good with nails and hurricane
straps.
“It was very overwhelming to
know you have so many people who
are willing to help,” Felicia said,
reflecting on that day and the months
of construction that followed. “I
We need thousands more volunteers!
abitat for Humanity needs more volunteers of all
skill levels to help with reconstruction in Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama. To date, almost 30,000 volunteers
have been placed in the Gulf Coast region, and more than
400 Habitat for Humanity homes have been started, with
more than 150 of these now completed. Still, thousands more
volunteers of all skill levels are needed to meet the goal of
building 1,000 homes by mid-summer of 2007.
Karen Archer from Roanoke, Va., says building in Slidell,
La., was a life-changing experience — not only for the
Habitat families she helped, but also for herself.
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to being involved in the construction of
her home and receiving guidance from
Habitat on managing and maintaining
her home, Felicia feels confident in her
new role as homeowner. “We learned a
whole lot,” Felicia said. “How to save on
the energy, save money...”
By press time, the kids will be back
in school and Felicia will be back in
the classroom working as a special
education assistant to junior high
students. The family looks forward
to what they hope will be a “normal”
school year, and Felicia looks forward
to helping other Habitat partner
families. “I’m getting ready to try to
adopt some families,” she said. She
wants to support other families as they
travel the road to homeownership with
Habitat just like she did.
“If anybody gets the opportunity to go down, I would
encourage them because it’s an experience they will never
forget,” Karen said. “It’s an experience they will carry in their
hearts forever. You can’t put into words what it feels like.”
“The need of those people that we met was just
unbelievable. The images I saw, I’ll never forget, and TV
didn’t do it justice,” Karen said. “We are planning to go back.”
Sign up to volunteer with Operation Home Delivery at
www.habitat.org, or contact Tom Porter, Operation Home
Delivery volunteer manager, at (800) 422-4828, Ext. 2175.
Your local
affiliate is:
International Headquarters: 121 Habitat St. Americus, GA 31709-3498 USA
(229) 924-6935 (800) HABITAT fax (229) 928-8811 [email protected] www.habitat.org
photo credits: steffan hacker, will crocker, gib ford and gregg pachkowski
5M/OHD/9-06
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appreciate everything.”
Karen Archer, one of the Roanoke
volunteers who traveled to Slidell, had
the opportunity to talk with Felicia.
“She cried. I cried,” Karen said. “We did
more crying than talking. The thanks
were just overwhelming.”
Felicia, Stacie and John moved
into their home over the Fourth of
July weekend and were able to enjoy
their first summer as homeowners.
Stacie, old enough to get her first job
at 16, spent the summer working at
McDonald’s. Felicia spent a lot of time
with her son. “We go fishing every
day,” Felicia said. “He doesn’t even care
about catching anything.” When they
do catch something, they have fresh
perch or catfish for dinner.
Felicia is trying to grow grass
— difficult in the August heat. Thanks