Samaritan's Purse staff participated in a ceremonial property closing outside Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans Sunday, symbolizing our commitment to redevelop as many as 50 homes in the community surrounding the church for people still trying to recover from the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina.
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported that after the ceremony, New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and officials with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) and Louisiana Land Trust joined members of the church and Samaritan's Purse as they sang “Victory Is Mine.”
They then walked to a nearby two-story house that Samaritan's Purse will renovate and present to a needy family, mortgage-free.
NORA expects to receive about 4,450 properties the state bought from hurricane-affected homeowners who didn't want to rebuild after the August 2005 storm and levee breaches. The agency has been reaching out to large developers, church and neighborhood groups, individuals, nonprofits, and others deemed capable of redeveloping properties, NORA board member Rob Couhig told the Associated Press.
“There's nothing more destructive to a neighborhood than a vacant lot or, maybe worse, a vacant house,” he said.
Samaritan's Purse is the first organization to purchase property from NORA and to begin work on restoring neighborhoods.
“The importance of bringing the houses back is huge,” said Richard Brown, Samaritan's Purse Program Manager in New Orleans. “We want to come in and be a catalyst.”
Samaritan's Purse has committed to rebuild or redevelop as many as 50 houses in the community surrounding the church in the next two years. We have closed on five of the properties, including the one at 2415 Eads St. that was the focal point of Sunday's celebration.
We also are helping individual local homeowners rebuild their properties.
The Rev. Fred Luter Jr., pastor of the church, told The Times-Picayune that the Franklin Avenue membership is committed to helping rebuild the community through its partnership with Samaritan's Purse. The church provides lodging and food for our volunteers who come from throughout the country to help in the rebuilding effort.
The pastor said that it took nearly three years to rebuild Franklin Avenue following Hurricane Katrina, and the surrounding neighborhoods are still devastated. The partnership between the thriving church and Samaritan's Purse is a sign that things are getting better.
“For all of those out there that wondered about the 8th Ward and the Upper 9th Ward, I have said all along, they may be down, but they are coming back,” Hedge-Morrell told the newspaper.
