[StBernard] Project puts residents back in St. Bernard homes

[Westley Annis]

Project puts residents back in St. Bernard homes
United Way aiding the rebuilding group 
Monday, October 09, 2006
By Valerie Faciane
Staff writer 

Last week Roy Calabresi, 82, put down his walking cane, picked up a hammer
and began pounding nails into Sheetrock inside a shed that will soon become
his home. 

 
"I'm just trying to help out a little bit," he said. 

The small shed, which used to sit behind the main house, was once a place
where Calabresi would retreat to draw, and later served as an apartment for
his grandchildren. Today, it is all that the St. Bernard Parish resident has
left. The Hurricane Katrina flooding was bad enough, but winds broke
electrical wires and the sparks set fire to the home Calabresi shared with
his late wife for nearly 60 years. 

With the help of the St. Bernard Project and the United Way, Calabresi will
soon be able to move out of a FEMA trailer and back to a place that has been
part of his life for so many years. 

AmeriCorps volunteers and others are working with the St. Bernard Project to
hang drywall in homes all over St. Bernard to help people such as Calabresi
get their lives back in order. 

"These kids in here are doing a great job helping me out," Calabresi said. 

The St. Bernard Project was launched by Zack Rosenburg, a Washington, D.C.,
criminal defense lawyer. Rosenburg and his girlfriend, Liz McCartney, fell
in love with the parish while doing relief work there in February. 

The couple returned to Washington, but not for long. "We felt we couldn't go
home and back to our lives," Rosenburg said. 

They raised about $30,000 and came back in May. Seven weeks ago, they
started the free Sheetrock program. When the United Way learned about the
project, it decided to help out by purchasing the drywall and insulation. 

The St. Bernard Project is one of four nonprofit programs being financed by
the United Way to help the people of St. Bernard Parish. 

"What the United Way did was allow us to buy supplies to do the work,"
Rosenburg said. 

The mission of the St. Bernard Project, Rosenburg said, is to remove
barriers for people wanting to return home. In order to accomplish this, the
project, in addition to installing Sheetrock and insulation, has a stockpile
of tools that families can borrow to repair their homes and has computers
and other office equipment residents can use at the project office, 8324
Parc Place in Chalmette. Beginning in November, the project will also offer
seminars to help people with storm-related needs and questions. 

Rosenburg and McCartney say the project couldn't operate without citizen
volunteers and the members of AmeriCorp's National Civilian Community Corps.


"It's the best thing you can be part of, helping people get back in their
homes," said Tim Verni-Lau, an AmeriCorps volunteer from Rockford, Ill. 

To date, volunteers with the St. Bernard Project have installed drywall in
five houses, installed two roofs and wired six homes, Rosenburg said. 

One of the houses they are working on belongs to Christina and Darryl Bailey
of Violet, which was inundated to the ceiling with floodwater. Christina
Bailey said the drywall and insulation make it feel more like home. 

"It looks like home even though it's not complete," she said. "It helps me
to identify each room better than looking at the two-by-fours and wondering
which (room) is which." 

Christina Bailey, a home health provider, evacuated to Memphis with her son,
a visually impaired relative and a 92-year-old client who has remained under
her care. Her husband, an employee of the St. Bernard Water and Sewerage
Board, was required to stay behind. 

The couple didn't have flood insurance. Neither did Jacqueline Britton of
Violet. 

"Nobody wanted to help us but (the St. Bernard Project)," Britton said. 

In the past, the United Way made annual allocations to agencies, but has now
moved to awarding short-term grants to programs that meet priority needs.
The agency is financing only those programs that are most effective in
delivering results through relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts. 

The United Way's $20 million fund-raising campaign kicked off in August and
continues through March. The agency hopes to raise $14 million locally and
$6 million nationally. 

For information about donating, call (504) 827-6824, log on to
www.unitedwaynola.org or donate through payroll deductions at your
workplace. 

To volunteer, apply for assistance or donate directly to the St. Bernard
Project, call (504) 272-2290. 

. . . . . . . 

Valerie Faciane can be reached at vfaciane at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3325.