Weekend Marathon! “Among The Best Neighborhoods in the US”

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

In Can You Help? NOLA’s 9th Ward Needs Us! the excellent ikrisarus starts the big challenge:

A group of bloggers over at Docudharma have been actively writing about NOLA after Hurricane Katrina and we have decided to do a week-end marathon fund-raiser for the 9th Wards’ NENA (Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association)

The Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association (NENA) was established in the aftermath of Katrina to play a lead role in rebuilding New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward.

Organized and controlled by residents of the Lower Ninth Ward, NENA addresses not only the immediate recovery needs created by the storm’s destruction, but also the institutional neglect and disinvestment that plagued the neighborhood long before Katrina. NENA works with current Lower Ninth Ward residents, displaced residents living in other parts of New Orleans, and the broader diaspora who want to return to the neighborhood.

NENA’s priority needs are:

1.) Building Materials: nails to studs to wire.

2.) Money

3.) Giftcards from: Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Win Dixie Food Stores, Dollar General, Family Dollar

Please, let’s do what we can for NENA!

You can send personal checks to:

NENA

PO Box 3920

New Orleans, Louisiana 70177

Or you can donate online through Donate.net & GlobalGiving.com

Perhaps you’ve heard and read about the Lower Ninth Ward, it seems to have obtained minor celebrity status since the Federal Flood.

I found a great description of the community while reading an article in The Capital Times out of Wisconsin, written by Rob Zaleski.  Seems there are some volunteers from Wisconsin who, after their own devastating personal experience visiting NOLA after the federal flood, decided to try to “restore Bayou Bienvenue, a cypress swamp next to the poor Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, which had been particularly hard hit.”

You can read the story of Kate Tillery Danzer and her colleagues in the linked article, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the “can-do” attitude our present misAdministration has tried in every way possible to destroy in this country.

But I’d like to focus on what was said about the community of the Ninth Ward and hopefully it will inspire us to help NENA out with whatever we can afford to contribute.  Small or large, just giving this wonderful group some love will go a long way towards letting folks in NOLA know we have not forgotten and that we still care, we will always care about our neighbors, that we are indeed the United States of America, no matter how loudly the monsters in our nation’s capital and their hateful supporters try to drown out that simple fact.

This study has brought up profound questions as to the feasibility of saving the wetlands and New Orleans itself.

Herb Wang, a geology/geophysics professor at UW-Madison, who is involved in the Bring Back the Bayou project says:

“There’s a rational side of me that says living in a place that’s 8 to 11 feet below sea level is not wise,” he says. “But you know what? I can point to lots of places in this country where it’s not wise to live. There are fires in San Diego. There is drought in Las Vegas. The fact is, a lot of our built environments require fairly large-scale protection.”

Could it be, he muses, that many people oppose rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward because it’s economically depressed and predominantly African-American? Would they feel differently if it were a white, upscale neighborhood and/or a tourist magnet?

I have virtually no doubt that if the Lower Ninth Ward was populated by rich white Republicans, we’d be seeing a mighty river of federal funding flowing toward the area in no time at all.  I’ve read too much about what’s happened after the Federal Flood to believe anything else.

Wang continues:

There is, Wang suggests, another side to the debate that one can’t appreciate unless they’ve actually spent time in the Lower Ninth Ward: the passion of its residents and their deep, historical connection to the area.

Indeed, to attend a Holy Cross Neighborhood Association meeting “is to see democracy at work,” he says. “And to hear these people talk about the problems they face is not just educational it’s, frankly, inspiring.”

Tillery Danzer goes on to describe her experience:

In the 30 months since Katrina, there have been dozens of media accounts of the Lower Ninth Ward and its struggles, but Tillery Danzer says a recent story in The Nation seemed to sum it up best.

“If you measured the Lower Ninth Ward by will, solidarity and dedication, both from residents and far-flung volunteers and nonprofts, it would be among the best neighborhoods in the United States,” the story said. “If you measured it by infrastructure and probabilities, it looks pretty grim … Its uncertain fate has come to be an indicator for the future of New Orleans and the fate of its African-American majority.”

Among the best neighborhoods in the United States.  Think about that for a moment.  Think about someone coming to NENA and needing help in rebuilding their homes, they are immediately given a Home Depot gift card, you are helping that person rebuild their home, you are giving dignity to your neighbors, you are committing to never forget New Orleans, never forget that we are indeed the United States of America.

Please check the above linked diary from ikrisarus to see the list of other worthy places to donate whatever you can afford.  And add your own suggestions in the comments, they will be appreciated.

And stay tuned for another diary in this marathon tomorrow!