Monday I spent the day interviewing people all over the city, from Holy Cross to Broadmore, who recieved generators from the Preservation Resource Center back in November to see how they are coming along.

Glen received a generator and when called upon for an output report he told us that he lent his generator to the nuns at St. Joseph’s on Tulane near Claiborne. Sister Enid Storey said they were very grateful, having just gotten their power restored this week, they have been using their generator to power wash the area in the back of the church that took in water, the room called the Feed Jesus Room. This is the room they use to provide food for the homeless. They were lucky that the main part of the church had not flooded but they are hard at work getting all their services back up for the community and are hosting volunteers at the church who go into the community of the Tulane/Galvez/Iberville corridor and help residents gut homes and clear debris. Turns out, that the volunteers are helping a woman I know! Ella over on Palmyra, we both got back in Oct. and started working at the restaurant. She travels between here and Arkansas where she has free rent for a year while her house is being rehabed.

Another generator recipient, Roy Dillon and his family, in Holy Cross have been using five generators to give the Lower Ninth the jolt it needs to catch up to other parts of recovery in the city. One wonders why the media focuses on the Lower Ninth until you visit and see that the area is recovering slower than areas in Uptown and Mid-City. This is due to a couple of factors, as Roy pointed out. They are having some issues with water quality, which is preventing some trailers from being delivered and they are also struggling with the lack of utilities to get the job done as well as having to try to work in the city only on weekends. Roy was just shutting off his generator when I arrived, he was using it to create a more secure garage door, there are great concerns about looting too. Roy was stuck in Mid-City during the flood and waded through water chest high to get his family to safety, finally evacuating to Brunswick, GA, where he now still must go to touch base with his family who cannot yet find housing in the city. He can’t wait to get his trailer. The spot has been marked for a month.

At this point, Roy’s house is looking great. He has gutted it and replaced almost every sill and stud with new wood, keeping the original walls where possible and using bleach solutions to eliminate mold from salvageable wood. Workers are now finishing all the framing, next with be the plumbing, electrical, and then finally, the white treatment to protect the wood. Then he said, ” We’ll be ready to sheetrock and it’ll start looking like home again.” The family pulled out all the dead bushes and their flowering bushes were in bloom, the grass is green and the yard and premises is sparkling clean. Roy cleaned the outside of the stucco by hand because he had no power source at the time. He said the man who came to mark off his yard for his trailer was very impressed. Roy’s neighborhood pride and upbeat attitude are impressive as well. He is not at all discouraged by challenges ahead, he knows many of his neighbors are coming back and Roy is proud to be there on the corner of Rampart setting the pace with his temporary power. It’ll be even more impressive when he gets back on the grid !

Related posts:

1. Volunteers Needed for Tulane’s Treme Survey
2. Jesus was a carpenter, he built my gazebo
3. Jesus stole my WII, so I shot him
4. A Modest Proposal for the Lower Ninth Ward
5. What can we do about this?