On the bumpy road to recovery on the Gulf Coast

Many months after Katrina hit America's Gulf Coast, exposing the racist incompetence of the Bush Administration as they left thousands of poor, black American citizens to die, I talked to a former co-worker of mine from Mississippi whose parents lost a great deal in Katrina. She talked of her mother's post-traumatic syndrome and the way inadequate insurance payments were made and inadequate help came from the government and many people simply couldn't afford recovery and so had to sell cheap to real estate developers who were aiming to build luxury hotels. Her story, which I cannot do justice, was a pretty damned good summary of much of what is wrong with America under Bush and the extreme right wing branch of the Republican Party...the one that promised to reduce government until it could be drowned in a bathtub. Seemingly they didn't care that thousands of Americans would drown in the process.

Even as Katrina refugees are being faced with eviction from their trailers by a government that STILL doesn't give a shit about them, one tiny hopeful milestone has been reached...and we can help expand that tiny glimmer of hope. From Habitat for Humanity:

Habitat for Humanity reaches a milestone in the hurricane-recovery effort with the construction of its 500th hurricane-recovery home along the Gulf Coast.

Just months ago, Habitat for Humanity and the Operation Home Delivery program marked the anniversaries of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a commemoration that acknowledged the historic storms’ destruction and looked ahead with hope to continued progress along the Gulf Coast. Now, Habitat has reached a significant construction milestone in that recovery effort: This week, the walls were raised on Habitat’s 500th hurricane-recovery home, just outside Mobile, Ala.

Hard-hit Mobile County serves as a fitting location for such a celebration of the rebuilding effort, says Mobile County Habitat for Humanity executive director Brenda Carson-Lawless. “Since the storm,” she explains, “we’ve more than tripled our construction capacity. We’re on track to build 60 homes this year and 60 in 2007.”

Many Gulf-area affiliates have seen this kind of exponential growth in the last year, thanks to overwhelming financial and volunteer support. By mid-summer 2007, Habitat plans to have built 1,000 houses all along the Gulf Coast. To emphasize that point, nine additional homes were started this week in other coastal communities.

Operation Home Delivery continues to move forward. “The job’s not done yet,” says Veronica Taylor, OHD senior director. “In many ways, it’s just beginning. ...There is a new sense of energy as we embark on building the next 500 homes.”

Habitat for Humanity is doing its best to make up for the complete lack of compassion shown by Bush-style conservatives. Please help them. That's about all I can say: please help.

I always look beyond the immediate problem to long term issues. So I will also add that global warming and loss of wetlands make our coastlines even more vulnerable. America is destroying our wetlands and that is just plain stupid. Wetlands provide a buffer between storm surges and populated areas. Help preserve American wetlands. Donations to Habitat for Humanity help the recovery from past storms. Donating to Ducks Unlimited helps limit the damage from future storms which we KNOW will happen.

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