Rebuild Program
Who We Are
Our program started in January 2006 as a volunteer house gutting operation. Since then, we have gutted out homes for more than 800 families with the help of thousands of volunteers from around the country. In March of 2007, with funding from Episcopal Relief and Development, we launched our rebuild phase. To date, we have rebuilt 29 homes and are currently working on 7 more.
For more information about our program, our homeowners, and how we're funded, go to Donate Goods and Services.
Who We Serve
We work with homeowners from all over New Orleans. Right now, we have rebuild projects going in Gentilly, New Orleans East, the Upper and Lower 9th wards, the 7th ward, and Lakeview. Our homeowners are typically either folks that we've gutted for in the past and who are now ready to rebuild, or residents who were referred to us from neighborhood associations, church congregations, or the Episcopal case management system.
While there are no specific qualifications our homeowners must meet, we aim to serve homeowners who, for financial, physical or mental health reasons, can't begin the work on their homes themselves. Many are senior citizens, some living with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or other dependents, who don't know how to begin rebuilding their homes and who fear dishonest contractors. Some have debilitating diseases, and many don't have family members in the area who can help them rebuild. Few of them received much insurance money and many are still waiting on the federal grant money they were promised to be able to pay for the work on their homes. Many of those who received federal money have been defrauded by bad contractors or didn't receive enough money in the first place to complete the work. Most are still living in FEMA trailers, where they've been for up to two years, or are still in the cities out of state where they evacuated to after the storm.
What We Do
We do whatever is necessary to get residents back into their homes. Often, our homeowners haven't had the money to start and don't know how to begin the process even if the money were to arrive. We start with their gutted home, and work with them to hire reputable plumbers, electricians and mold remediators. We then use volunteers to insulate, sheetrock, tape and float, paint, floor and install the trim and cabinets.
To learn more about our program, take a look at these articles.
How We Work
Our crew chiefs direct the work on the houses, communicate with the homeowners, and run the crews of volunteers. We have ten crew chiefs right now, most of whom are recent college graduates or are here for a semester before they go back to school. They are trained in at least one and usually several of the basic rebuild skills - sheetrocking, mudding, flooring, and trimming. They come from around the country, and usually work with us for several months. You can read more about them on our staff page.
