Hurricane Katrina survivors praise help of faith groups five years on

Five years after Hurricanes Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, survivors and those working on their behalf say work is far from finished.

Church World Service says that what progress has been made is in great part due to the support, funding and labour of the US faith community and of humanitarian agencies.

"If it weren't for the volunteers and agencies who assisted me, I don't know where I would be," said Gloria Mouton, 62, whose home in New Orleans East was among those repaired by volunteers from across the US during the 2009 CWS Neighborhood New Orleans ecumenical project.

Mouton said the city was "nowhere where it should be five years later", with many areas still dotted by empty or overgrown lots.

She nonetheless praised the efforts that allowed her to return to her home after two years of living in Georgia with family as she waited to return to New Orleans.

"This is home, where I want to be," the retired government employee said, adding that the work of volunteers "came out real nice".

In restoring Mouton's and other homes, CWS worked in partnership with the local New Orleans long-term recovery organisation the Crescent Alliance Recovery Effort, and with volunteer teams coordinated by ten of CWS' member denominations.

Founded in 1946, Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of 36 Christian denominations and communions.

Volunteers work with Rebuilding Together's Fifty for Five, in which volunteers from around the country came to rebuild 50 homes in five days in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, Thursday







"I never realized there were that many people such big hearts," Mouton told the ecumenical agency.


Another survivor, Christopher Weaver, 48, agreed, and praised the efforts that allowed him to return to his home in New Orleans East.


"There are people who showed me a new way of life," the self-employed cook said of the work of volunteers and CWS-supported agencies that repaired his residence. "It was powerful to see these things happening."


From individual churches who opened their doors to shelter survivors to faith-based humanitarian agencies and regional long-term recovery organisations, the faith response saved lives, say those who have worked tirelessly in the five years since Katrina and Rita hit the region.




"Absolutely," said Jessica Vermilyea, the Louisiana-based state director for Lutheran Disaster Response and Lutheran Social Services Disaster Response. "It saved families. If it hadn't have been for that response, I don't know what would have happened."