A veteran with extensive military training, Stephen was trained to survive in brutal conditions – insect infestations, brutal heat, soaking rains, searing cold – surrounded by people who may wish to do you harm. However, he never thought he would have to use these survival...
The last week was a blur of excruciating hunger and several feeble suicide attempts. He sat down in the old abandoned factory along the river and just stared at it. He didn’t know what would happen, but he figured it wouldn’t be good. Depression is...
Published by Greater New Orleans Foundation, Second Line Blog, July 29, 2010 I’ve spent most of my professional life for the past five years since Hurricane Katrina thinking about home. What home means; what it means to lose a home; and how it feels to be...
Her five children, ages 8 to 17, have lived through their mother’s hell. Yet when they kiss her goodnight, they see a survivor. A victim of numerous rapes and unremitting domestic violence who turned to drugs for solace – Wendy has made the changes in...
Today's blog entry is written by Kathleen North, UNITY Director of Supportive Housing Registry. He smells like a homeless old man, this 4-year-old boy. He has oozing bug bites on his arms and legs. His eyes are beautiful and engaging as he looks up eagerly...
When your job requires you to keep your shoes dirty, avoid florescent lighting and develop a nascent tolerance for mosquitoes and cockroaches, you pay a lot of attention to the weather. This week New Orleans has been sucker punched with the outer rain bands from...
Looking back on your life, has it taken the linear path you intended? Did you end up with the career, husband/wife, children and dream home you expected? Was the path easy? Did you finish high school, work straight through college and professional school, notching everything...
Coming up on the 5-year anniversary of Katrina and the levee failures, our Executive Director told the staff the other day she is concerned that people across the country may not realize that the devastation caused by Katrina still remains. “People think everything’s back to...
