Progress Update on the Stroder Home Rebuild

James talks with a group of volunteers from
Glover Park Group in early December.

As a native of the Ninth Ward, Jimmy Stroder has spent his entire life in New Orleans. Jimmy chose to raise his five children in the same neighborhood where he grew up. For thirty years, Jimmy worked his way up through the ranks of the Housing Authority of Louisiana.

The house with only framing completed in late November.

Jimmy lived through previous hurricanes and did not to evacuate as Hurricane Katrina approached. As he surveyed the damage at his home after the storm passed, though, Jimmy realized that he could not stay in such a badly damaged home.

The interior of the Stroder home once
insulation was installed in early December.

He walked downtown through flooded streets. He eventually spent three days sleeping outside of the Convention Center before being evacuated to Arkansas. He then spent several years living in Texas. He traveled weekly to New Orleans to supervise construction on a home he purchased, as his first home was too damaged to be rebuilt.

Drywall was installed in mid-December.

Mudding began at the home in late December,
just a few weeks after construction began.

Jimmy worked hard to closely supervise the project, but he fell victim to contractor fraud like many others. Having spent his entire life building homes, he couldn't afford to rebuild his own.

After losing everything to crooked contractors, Jimmy turned to SBP for help rebuilding, and his home is now under construction. These photos show the progress made since construction began in late November. SBP staff and volunteers from Glover Park Group, Immaculata University, the Georgia Tech MBA program, and several other groups have worked very hard to move the construction process along quickly with funding from United Way. We're very excited that Jimmy will be able to return home soon to spend time relaxing with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren!