Leaders and partners of the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast relief program
marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by praising the
work of volunteers and the dedication of grassroots partner
organizations in helping survivors rebuild their shattered lives and
return to their homes in New Orleans and southern Mississippi.
At a special commemorative event in the Lower Ninth Ward, Mary
Fontenot, director of
ACT, used the occasion of the
second anniversary of Katrina to announce the launch of the
Resurrection Project, a new initiative designed to speed the
delivery of building materials, furniture, food and other
necessities by training local residents to serve as a clearing house
for donated goods.
“Our goal is to not have donated goods stacked to the ceiling but to
make sure that whatever is received is quickly moved into the hands
of the citizens,” said Fontenot, a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward,
whose organization has partnered with UUSC for the past two years
through JustWorks camps and the
UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast relief program.
See the full
text of her remarks.
“The enormous level of need is only surpassed by the gratitude of
the people. Survivors are grateful that volunteers haven't forgotten
about them."
UUSC’s Gulf Coast Response Coordinator Quo Vadis Breaux said more
than 1,000 volunteers organized by the Unitarian Universalist
Service Committee and UU churches in New Orleans and Baton Rouge
have helped survivors to return to their homes. She said UUSC and
the UUA have worked with over 40 community organizations along the
Gulf Coast “to bring a measure of justice to this process of
rebuilding homes and communities.”
Breaux pointed out that UUA-UUSC volunteers are supporting efforts
to bring equity and justice to the rebuilding process. “Our vision
is one of rebuilding towards justice with a particular focus on
supporting the voice and participation of low-income and communities
of color,” she said. Click here for
Breaux’s complete remarks.
UUA Moderator Gina Courter also praised the “thousands of heroes”
such as Fontenot who are working tirelessly in their devastated
neighborhoods to empower their fellow New Orleanians' return to their
homes. She also condemned the failure of governmental agencies to
respond adequately to the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
“We cannot ignore the fact that many institutions have failed the
people of New Orleans -- they failed to respond adequately to the
hurricanes two years ago, and they’re still failing this city
today,” said Courter. See
Courter’s complete remarks.
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 youth program of the
Unitarian
Universalist Urban Ministry, and a group of
adults organized by the
UUA’s Thomas Jefferson District
that includes congregational leaders from Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and parts of Tennessee and Georgia. They are working
on rehabilitating homes as well as creating a ball-playing field for
youth.
Other events in which UUSC and UUA staff are participating include:
-- A Policy Forum and Town Hall meetings on Tuesday, August 28 at
Dillard University in New Orleans.
-- A Katrina Sunrise Meditation on Wednesday, August 29, organized
by UUSC partner STEPS coalition, at Gulfside Assembly in Waveland,
Miss.
-- Several rallies and memorial services around New Orleans on
Wednesday, April 29, including a “funeral procession’ in remembrance
of public housing residents who lost their lives during the
hurricane tragedy. Also scheduled was a second-line procession from
the Lower Ninth War to historic Congo Square.
For a more detailed list of events, visit the
New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.
Posted August 29, 2007
