I read an article that some PSTCC students went down there to help recently and it sounded about the same as two years ago: people living in small trailers and food and health care being distributed from remote sites.

"I have completed the last of my Katrina repairs: New roof, new ceilings, carport and brick façade stabilized, new patio roof, new shutters, and new doors. My magnolia tree will not be replaced. It could have landed on my house instead of sprawling across the street. It was cut up and partially removed before I returned home one month after the storm. My street was a major artery for first responders in the early days after Katrina. The trunk left on my front lawn was about 15 inches in diameter. My cousins, Mike and Stephen, rolled to the curb and it was eventually picked up along with other debris. It took me nearly six months to remove all storm debris from around my house.

Last summer Nikos, Grace and Pam ventured down from New England to volunteer for a week at the Habitat for Humanity site known as the Musicians Village. I was working for Barnes & Noble at the time and could only join them for one day but it was gratifying to participate in this small way to the rebuilding of New Orleans. I revisited the site last weekend to log in volunteer hours for my friend Cherie who has qualified for a Habitat house. To date, 67 Habitat houses have been completed in New Orleans. An area that was a supply depot and parking lot is now filled with soon to be completed houses. A dozen houses that were being framed last year on Alvar Street are now occupied. Concrete block pilings are being placed in what last year was a grassy field where we washed paint brushes."