Katrina Updates

Plenty teams up with Brave New Films to produce a short documentary for the second anniversary of Katrina.
By Peter Schweitzer
Executive Director

To help draw attention to the continuing struggle of hurricane Katrina survivors trying to rebuild their lives along the Gulf Coast now two years after the storm made landfall along the Gulf Coast, Plenty teamed up with Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films and Brave New Foundation to produce a short documentary we want to share with you. In the film you will hear from some of the folks Plenty is assisting. All of the interviews were conducted in August 2007 by a Plenty film crew and Luisa Dantas, an independent film maker. (Watch film now)

Appearing in the documentary are:

Rene "Rudy" Aguilar, Sr. of Arabi, LA (50 years old) living with wife and three young children in an eight foot by 20 foot FEMA trailer. Before Katrina he was the "Environmental Engineer" for St. Bernard Parish which is adjacent to the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. He was laid off after the storm because the Parish said it didn't have the tax base to support his position in spite of the fact that the Parish is home to a huge and toxic Exxon/Mobile oil refinery and a Murphy Oil refinery which experienced one of the largest land oil spills in US history during Katrina, more than one million gallons of crude oil impacting 1700 residences and more than a square mile as well as several canals.

Linda S. Audibert of Arabi, LA (51 years old) living with two grand children (ages 3 and 1) in gutted house. Moved out of her moldy FEMA trailer into her gutted house when the trailer became unlivable. The one-year-old has been found to have high levels of lead in her blood. High amounts of lead and asbestos were released into the atmosphere by Katrina and subsequent demolitions.

Vernon Washington of Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans (87 years old) living in a FEMA trailer in a FEMA trailer park. Was told by his insurance company that his insurance had been terminated two weeks before the storm. He was not notified.

Melverleane Gaines of the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans (74 years old) lives in a FEMA trailer in front of her partly renovated house. Melverleane was ripped off of her FEMA and insurance money by an unscrupulous contractor.

With modest amounts of funding Plenty could help all these folks get back into renovated homes before the end of the year.

Following is the email from Brave New Foundation which contains links to the website where the documentary (less than 4 minutes in length) may be viewed along with information about a new "Gulf Coast Recovery" bill being introduced in the US Congress, and the opportunity to sign a petition in support of the bill.

I want to acknowledge the Rick Foundation, the Philip R. Jonsson Foundation, DreamCatchers and Dr. Dave Winek of the Williamson Medical Center of Franklin, Tennessee and his wife Janet and the Gulf Coast recovery organization, Bayou Liberty Relief for their critical support of Plenty's work in the Gulf, and Brave New Films which did an incredible job of editing more than five hours of footage into a compelling four minute film that grabs you by the heart. Special thanks to Paris Marron of Brave New Films, Irene Romero of DreamCatchers, my brother, Phil Schweitzer of Village Media and Tony Sferlazza, Plenty's intrepid Gulf Recovery program Director and all those compassionate individuals who have lent a hand, a hammer, sweat or a check. Without you these stories would be even more hopeless than they are.

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and still there are tens of thousands of families without homes. 30,000 families are scattered across the country in FEMA apartments, 13,000 are in trailers, and hardly any of the 77,000 rental units destroyed in New Orleans have been rebuilt. To share some of these people's stories, we have put together a short film, "When the Saints Go Marching In."

During the making of this video, we heard the heartbreaking stories of good people unable to return home. We have heard the story of the Aguilar family who lost their home to the storm and only received $4,000 in payments from their insurance company. We have met Mr. Washington, an 87-year-old man and former carpenter, who owned three homes prior to the storm. He is still living in a FEMA trailer today. And we've met Julie, who could have returned to her job and normal life, if the government had opened up the public housing units that she had lived in prior to the storm.

You can watch their stories here (click on photo):

There is something very specific you can do to help. Sign the petition urging the Senate to pass the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668). The bill is expected to come to a vote after Labor Day. Its passage will be an important step toward rebuilding the infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region.

Sign the petition: http://whenthesaints.org/?utm_source=foundemail

Please pass the video on and encourage people to sign the petition. It's important we all support the Gulf Coast region's right to return home and put the needed resources toward rebuilding these families' lives.

Warmest regards,

Jamiah Adams and Paris Marron
Brave New Foundation
People we are helping get back into their homes.
Rudy Aguilar lives in St. Bernard Parish. Rudy is married and has three children and lives in a FEMA trailer in front of his gutted two-story house. Before Katrina he was working for the Parish as an environmental engineer. One of his accomplishments was forcing the Exxon/Mobil refinery that is located in the parish in a residential district (called "cancer alley" because of the high rates of cancer in the neighborhood) to place air quality sensors at all the local schools. Rudy and family were home during the hurricane and water in his neighborhood rose to 15 feet forcing them into the second floor of their home. At one point he swam from his second floor to an elderly couple's house next door where, grabbing a two by four that happened to float by he managed to pry open a hole in the roof and pull them out and get them into a passing rescue boat. Three days later he was laid off from his job with the parish and he now survives on unemployment of $280/week. He gave a contractor about $11,000 dollars but got little for his money. This is one of the families we would like to help get back into their home. His second floor is sheet-rocked and only needs some electrical work, interior trim, flooring and a bathroom and they will be able to move out of their FEMA trailer where the formaldehyde is causing health problems for the family.

Linda Audibert (right) with Tony, Elaine and two grandchildren

Linda Audibert lives in her gutted house a couple blocks from Tony. Her FEMA trailer became moldy and uninhabitable. She is taking care of 2 grandchildren, one and three years old. When we visited she was preparing for her three-year-old's birthday. Elaine gave her 2 of Judy Meeker's quilts and a few toys for the birthday boy. They were thrilled. Linda said she is a quilter and has heard about More Than Warmth. Her house is gutted and will need major work. She has applied for Road Home money and should hear soon if she will get anything. We only know one person in St. Bernard Parish who has gotten any Road Home money while thousands have applied.

Mr. Washington is in his 80s, a retired builder who owned three modest houses before Katrina and all are now unlivable. He hopes to be able to repair two rooms and a bathroom in one of the homes which we inspected. He lives in a FEMA trailer in a small FEMA trailer park which is fenced with 4 security guards posted at the gate. He doesn't know how long FEMA will allow him to live there. Recently he called FEMA to request a repairman to come and fix his air conditioner. The repairman stole $700 which he had hidden under his mattress. Someone stole the plywood he put down on the floor of the house he wants to move back into. He got $2,000 from the insurance company for the flood damage. We'd like to help him do the repairs so he can move back into one of his houses.

Melverleane Gaines of the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans (74 years old) lives in a FEMA trailer in front of her partly renovated house. Melverleane was ripped off of her FEMA and insurance money by an unscrupulous contractor.

Julie lives up the street from Tony with her 12-year-old son. She took refuge with her elderly parents during Katrina in the Domino Sugar Plant which is also in St. Bernard Parish. Her parents were helicoptered to the I10 causeway the next day where they spent a day and a night huddled on the bridge where chaos reigned. Her father is sick with cancer. They weren't allowed to take anything with them in the helicopter so they left a purse with medications behind. Julie's house is nearly finished and doesn't need much help from us.

Visit the Katrina relief efforts home page to view other projects Plenty has been doing on the gulf coast.