Donate Goods and Services
Contribute to our building costs
The materials for a house cost up to $10,000. That covers everything - sheetrock, flooring, trim, cabinets, appliances and fixtures. Sometimes, that's all a homeowner needs. More often, though, they need help paying for at least one and sometimes several subcontractors to finish their electric, plumbing, roofing, HVAC, or mold remediation before any other work can happen. That work can cost up to $25,000 per house, depending on the extent of the damage.
Most of the folks we work with do not have enough money to cover all of their rebuild costs. Some are still waiting for their money from Road Home, the federal program designed to help homeowners in Louisiana and Mississippi finance their reconstruction by making up for what their insurance didn't cover. It's based on the pre-Katrina value of the house, which hurts homeowners in poor neighborhoods with depressed prices. The money that homeowners are eligible to receive has also been incredibly slow to arrive. As of May 2008, only two thirds of New Orleans homeowners have received their money.
Homeowners who have received their Road Home money face other challenges. Many have been scammed by fradulent contractors who either don't complete the work they promised, or do such a poor job that the work needs to be re-done. Some who haven't yet been scammed are so afraid of fradulent contractors that even if they have money, they don't start rebuilding because they don't know contractors that they can trust. In these cases, we refer the homeowners to reliable, reasonably-priced electricians, plumbers, roofers, and mold remediators that we have worked with before, and supervise the work to make sure everything is done according to the homeowner's request.
When homeowners don't have the resources to pay for the subcontracting work on their homes, we pay for it and agree to let them pay us back when they can. Often, homeowners reimburse us when they get their Road Home money. But if their Road Home money is already gone, it's up to us to raise the money. It's worked for us so far, but we rely on donations to keep us going.
If you or your parish would like to buy the building materials for one of our houses of $10,000, please let us know. We can provide pictures of finished homes if that's useful. Any amount of money is helpful and will be used to buy materials - send checks made out to the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana with "rebuild" in the memo line to: Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, Rebuild Program, 1623 7th St., New Orleans, LA 70115.
Volunteer labor saves our homeowners thousands of dollars. The majority of our volunteers come to New Orleans without any particular building skills and we are able to teach them a lot during their stay with us. However, for some of the more difficult work, we need skilled volunteers. If you know anyone with professional building skills who would want to volunteer in New Orleans for a month, you could offer to pay that person's bills at home to make that work possible. Contact Katie at mailto:kmears@gmail.com for more information.
Or, if you already have a group scheduled to come work with us, please recruit some additional skilled members. When we say skilled, we don't necessarily mean professionals (though that would be great) - we just mean folks who are comfortable with power tool and building basics.
One more note about skilled volunteers: we do not use volunteer electricians and plumbers. Those workers are required to have New Orleans licenses to pass inspections, so we hire local subcontractors to do that work.
For more information about volunteering with us, see our volunteer FAQs.
Donate tools
We are more than happy to take new or gently used tools off your hands. Here are the tools we need right now:
- Saw horses
- Sheetrock lift
- Belt sander
- Lights with easily replaceable halogen bulbs
- Saw blades:
- 12 and 10" blades for chop/table saws (for fine trim work)
- 10" blades for tile saw
- Paint brushes (2" trim brushes)
- Mixing drills and paddles
- Table saw with legs (preferably Dewalt or Rigid brands)
- Framing nailer (Bostitch F28WW)
- Halogen light bulbs
- Paint brushs (2 inch trim brushes)
- Clamps
- Rollerpads
- Knee pads
- Rolls of painters tape (2" wide or more)
- Pencils (flat)
- Cedar shims
- Paint tray liners
- Large, contractor trash bags
- Stud finders
- Tin snips
- Home Depot gift cards - we can always use these
If you have questions about our wishlist, please contact Katie at mailto:kmears@gmail.com
Need
- Refrigerator
- Washer
- Dryer
- Stove/Oven
- Dishwasher
- Furniture
- Vaccume Cleaners
- New Bed Sheets
- Pots & Pans
- Silverware
- Dishes
- Beds
- Baby Food
- Baby Diapers
- Window Air conditioners
Due to the ever evolving needs in New Orleans, we ask that you to please contact the logistics coordinator for the Diocese of Louisiana, Ben Taylor before making donations. He can be reached via email at btaylor@edola.org or at 504-258-7521.
St. Anna's Mobile Medical Mission:
Need
- 2x2 gauze
- Alcohol swaps
- Ascensia Contour glucose test strips
- MicroDraw Blood Glucose test strips
- CardioCheck lipid panel test strips
- BD Genie lancet devices
- Sample medications – not expired, not opened, no unused portions of personal prescriptions, no Pediatric Meds
- Disinfectant spray for exam tables, counters, etc
- Copy paper
- Business card stock (for referral cards or cards for clients to take home with their B/P and glucose results documented)
- Post card stock (for referral cards)
Due to the ever evolving needs in New Orleans, we ask that you to please contact the logistics coordinator for the Diocese of Louisiana, Ben Taylor, before making donations. He can be reached via email at btaylor@edola.org or at 504-258-7521.
