See What Women Can Do with the Aid of Major Grants?

WOW!

Here we have a story about women not only giving to women, but also doing the labor of rebuilding their homes, homes ruined by the Katrina flood in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In the second week of May, 150 women gathered to participate in Women’s Rebuild event in New Orleans. I have to mention their slogan: ” A Women’s Place Is Rebuilding The Home”. ( I like it, I like it) This event was put together by Women’s Voices for Change. Liz McCartney, the project’s co-director, says this event is just part of what ST. Bernard Project is doing to rebuild St. Bernard Parish Louisiana.

She saw how many women wanted to help and couldn’t find a way to do it. You know, I understand. I was in shock when I saw the devastation back when it happened. Within 4 months, my daughter and I went to New Orleans for 2 months . (She had to get out of school to do it). We went and helped one family in particular to re-establish their home as their actual place of residence, as they had been staying with friends just outside of town for months when we arrived. Along with others, we removed moldy carpet (whoa! was that toxic!), sped up the process of dry things out, hauled off what was worthless and caulked, and repainted. We also bought a few basic needs appliance that had been washed away. There had no real agreement, nor was there an end in sight to what still had to be done. And that was only one family to get back in their house.

But it didn’t feel like we made a dent in the needs of the family much less in the need of the parish. We had. But in the face of the destruction and nothing done to change it, we left exhausted and not feeling like we had really achieved much. We told ourselves how good it was we had helped this one family move back into their house. True. but it would have been really nice to be a part of something to where you have completely rebuilt the house in 2 months.

That’s how this St. Bernard Project really stands out: they create the focus and gather the labor and funds for materials so as to get really effective really fast. She says people really really like participating… So much so, that they are doing another Women’s Rebuild Week, October 12 to 17.. here’s where you can go to learn more about it (right now ti appears their website is acting funny.. if they do not get to it, all you have to do is scroll sideways and the text shows up just fine.)

What Liz McCartney (CNN named her Hero of the Year 2008) has pulled together….

…. is amazing. She gets the work focused, she gets the funds raised through the St. Bernard Project and she says at this point they are able to go through one house every 8 to 12 weeks. Having remodeled 4 homes so far, I know that this means she has a lot of hands working on it. I know she has skilled workers along side people who are unskilled. Everyone is a volunteer.

How does it get funded?She gets corporate funding, recurring donations as well as major grants. One way she gets donations is through her St. Bernard Project website, among other ways. From Susan B. Anthony Awards ($12,00 – enough to rebuild one house!) to Wonder Woman awards($1000 or under) you can give funds that go directly to materials and permits. The labor is fully donated. So far they have reconstructed 210 houses and the cost per house reconstruction is no more than $15,000-$20,000. UN!heard of.

This parish has 67,000 houses, which were ALL… repeat.. all! destroyed directly or indirectly by Katrina. This foundation isn’t going anywhere, and they have their work cut out for them.Why there hasn’t been more federal funds in the area to help, I cannot figure.

These savvy people have organized a way for private funds to make the difference that our “state of emergency” funds do not seem to address. Not remotely.

To donate to their cause, see here.

To participate in the Women’s Rebuild Week , click here..

Outstanding. I am going to try to talk with these guys and if I do you will see it posted here. I so appreciate this work and the degree of focus and effectiveness they deliver.

St. Bernard Project gets ORGANIZATION OF THE WEEK.

(LAST WEEK’S ORGANIZATION OF THE WEEK IS GIRLS ON THE RUN.. click here to see about Molly Barker and her vision turned into dream come true. Thank heavens for people like these! and thank heaven for the grants that fund their projects..)

If you see a need and want to address it, get your facts clear and the look into government grants. Depending on location, who is applying, and the effectiveness of your organization, you can get well funded to get these going on. You HAVE to look. It’s there. Get some help, or just wade through it, but the funds are there.