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Rebuilding Life After Katrina
Imagine losing your home, your city and everything that you held dear. Imagine this happening to you when you are 75 years old, recently had heart surgery and are ready to enjoy your golden years. Hurricane Katrina made this a reality for Ulysses.
Evacuated to Lafayette, Louisiana, about 120 miles west of New Orleans, Ulysses found shelter before the eye of the storm hit his hometown. He could never have anticipated that the storm would deposit nearly six feet of water in his house and render it uninhabitable. Two years after Katrina, Ulysses was still living in temporary quarters.
During the time Ulysses was displaced, he never lost sight of his goal of making his residence habitable. With funds from FEMA and his homeowners insurance, Ulysses paid off his mortgage, replaced the roof and redid the wiring. Volunteers from the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana gutted his house. The rest of Ulysses’ money was spent paying for his rent and living expenses in Lafayette while his empty and unfinished house waited for him.
After learning about the Diocese’s Office of Disaster Response (ODR), which is supported by Episcopal Relief & Development, Ulysses made his way to the project’s Homecoming Center office in early 2007. Through the program, Episcopal Relief & Development bought the remaining supplies to finish the interior of the house for just $7,000. Volunteers from the diocese put in over 1,500 hours of sweat equity. Two months later, Ulysses was finally home and surrounded by brightly painted walls and windows adorned with curtains made by his family.
