A 9th Anniversary Message from SBP's Co-Founders

Dear Friends,

During their Welcome Home party last month, Robert and Geraldine Starks stood on their front porch in utter disbelief.

Robert, a Vietnam veteran who stayed behind after the storm to help his neighbors evacuate, and Geraldine, celebrating a year of remission after a hard-fought battle with cancer, could not seem to fathom the fact that they were finally moving home. It had been nine years.  

Like 60% of SBP’s clients, the Starks turned their insurance payout over to a crooked contractor, and were left with nothing but a half-built home that they could not afford to complete on their own. Their limited income went to medical bills and paying their rent.

The Starks are one of 560 families who, thanks to the unwavering support of our donors and volunteers, once again sleep soundly in their own bed, knowing the peace and comfort that only comes from being home.

The couple wore matching “USA” t-shirts - a reminder that their citizenship, their humanity, once again meant something.

SBP was built on the belief that all of us are hardwired to prevent harm, solve problems and help others. Every day you remind us that this is true - that despite all the destruction from Katrina and wrongs that were done in the aftermath, there are still people who stand by, ready to help.

And we still need your help. We need your help because it has been nine years and there are over 100 families on our waiting list. And we need your help because we receive a minimum of 15 new calls every single week from families seeking assistance. The average age of the person calling is 63 years. These is a real, ongoing problem and we cannot solve it without your help.

I am proud of what SBP has accomplished since Katrina. I’m especially proud to see how the lessons learned here in New Orleans are causing impact in other communities:

• SBP’s affiliate, Rebuild Joplin, will complete the recovery in Joplin in December of this year. The recovery, slated to take five years, will be complete in three-and-a-half.
• Our Superstorm Sandy recovery operations have rebuilt over 100 homes in Rockaway, Staten Island and Monmouth County, NJ.
• Thanks to the generous support of Zurich Insurance Group, SBP will soon be working in new communities through our Disaster Resilience and Recovery Lab. SBP will conduct trainings designed to help homeowners, small to mid-sized businesses and community leaders understand and mitigate risk prior to disaster. After disasters, SBP will work in impacted communities to implement our documented, standardized and proven-effective model.

We have made progress, to be sure - but there is still much work to be done. Nine years have passed since Katrina, and there are still families wondering, “What will it take to move home?”

SBP has the answer. With $25,000 in building supplies, 150 volunteers and an average of 61 days, we can move a family back into their home. This is where we still need your help.

Please donate to help more families like the Starks move home.

We urge you to think about your own family on this 9th anniversary - to think about what lengths you would go to if your parents, your grandparents, were still fighting to get home.

We believe this is a solvable problem, and by donating, you are part of the solution.

Best wishes,

Zack Rosenburg & Liz McCartney

p.s. Please remember that investing in SBP impacts the way communities everywhere prepare for and recover from disasters. SBP has rebuilt more than 800 homes nationally, but we can all do more.

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Here are 3 simple ways you can help more families like the Starks move home:

1.  Please consider making a donation at stbernardproject.org/donate. Every donation helps bring a family that much closer to home.

2.  Go to www.crowdrise.com/stbernardproject and start an online fundraising campaign. It’s quick and easy – and donations go straight to SBP.

3.  Throw a party! This is New Orleans, after all. Host a get-together and ask folks to donate. There are folks at SBP who can help you plan this option and give you all the tools you need to make your party a success.

Your donation will help move families from the waiting list and into their homes. There are still over 100 families on the waiting list in New Orleans who really need your help.

Meet Rachel Lau

Meet Rachel Lau. Rachel is from Olive Branch, Mississippi and she serves as a Site Supervisor for SBP in New Orleans. Rachel was a student at Arizona State when Katrina hit:

“I was absolutely overwhelmed by the magnitude of it--the pictures, the stories, the number of people from New Orleans who evacuated, the number of people who didn't. But it was almost more overwhelming as it unfolded and you realized that we didn't have a good system in place to help these people who had lost so much.”

Rachel received a graduate degree in Architecture from University of Virginia.  Why did you choose to serve with AmeriCorps after graduation?

“I believe that each person has at least one skill they can share with their neighborhood and in their community. It can be painting portraits or having a good set of ears or fixing cars or mowing lawns. For me, I love buildings. I love the stories of old buildings. And so I want my skill to be fixing houses--I want to be able to help a neighbor out when they want to gut their kitchen, and when I gut mine I'm going to hope I've got a neighbor who is there to help me!”

It’s been 9 years since Katrina. What can you say about your experience in New Orleans this long after the storm?

“I've been overwhelmed by the kinds of obstacles people are still faced with in moving back--everything from trying to prove ownership of their house because the paperwork they had was lost in the flood to finding themselves victims of contractor fraud to trying to work through the emotions they felt and faced during the storm and its aftermath.”

You’re building houses in the oppressive heat of New Orleans. What gets you through the day?

“The families we are helping are hardworking, generous people who are fighting to come home. The energy of their fight, their resilience despite so many obstacles, their enthusiasm for SBP and our mission...these are the things that keep me, my AmeriCorps peers/team and thousands of volunteers excited about putting hammer to nail.”

 To learn more about AmeriCorps or how you can share your talents through volunteerism, please visit our website: www.stbernardproject.org/get-involved/americorps

9 Years Later, Finally Home

I never imagined that living right next to the interstate could ever be so peaceful. The evening of the welcome home party the first thing on the agenda for Capria and I was to set some strict boundaries for Joshua and Hakeem. Letting them know that Francis Drive is our home and we have to take care of it by being gentle with the structure and keeping ourselves and the furniture clean. First question was...what is the structure? So maybe I should have just kept it simple.

That night we stayed up late walking around as if the house was a museum. It had not yet settled in that this was where we were going to be living. After all, only one of us had ever lived in this house before.  I for one stared at the energy efficient light bulbs in the ceiling with thoughts of all the folks who made it happen. 

The boys absolutely love it that they have a space without daddy all up in their business...for now that is.  As a family we have watched television maybe a total of four hours since we have been here - I love it. It allows the boys to become creative with all the new things "Da Design Angels" put in place for them.  We have made it our own with projects outside the house, although that's been short lived with all of our schedules colliding. It seems all the work put in by SBP leaves me with nothing to try and fix. Clothes are how everyone has seemed to personalize the house. I'm sad to report that pictures remain in the electronics that store them, but we did purchase a new mailbox online! It's been sitting for 2 weeks - lacking the time to properly put it up. 

Harold's Family - Thanks Lexie Cole Photography!

We spend time together preparing meals and actually sitting down at the dinner table talking and making funny faces. The dining room has been one of the most consistently used areas for homework and food.  SBP thank you so much for everything. The work is so professionally executed. Had it not been for SBP, I would have never met the awesome volunteers from across the country to make this project a reality for my family. SBP provided the framework for us to live and The Design Angels supplied us with the tools we needed to succeed. We’re all so organized from the specific furniture pieces they put in the house.

Marriage is awesome with my best friend. We learned we are both clean fanatics!

It means so much to be back in this neighborhood. There's a quiet movement of people that care just as much as I think I do: the house around the corner that was falling is torn down; other folks are working to reestablish their homes on our street; the council person for the area asked if I could come up with some initiatives for our part of the city improvement process. 

SBP THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP! I'M SURE THE REST OF THE CITY CAN ECHO THAT PRAISE!


To help SBP bring more families like the Bailey’s home, spread the word that there is still work to be done! Please consider donating online at www.stbernardproject.org/donate or by mailing a check to 8324 Parc Place, Chalmette, LA 70043

Thank you to Event Pros Take Action and Rentals Unlimited for making this dream for the Bailey Family come true!!