Update on the Joseph Family from NOLA

Timothy Park, one of the Tulane med students who are working so hard to help the Joseph family re-rebuild their home in the Lower Ninth Ward, sent the following update to me last night. I thought readers might be interested to hear his perspective on what's going on down there— and how the campaign is going to raise funds to make the Josephs' homecoming possible.

If you aren't aware of the Kellie Joseph Rebuilding fund and what's behind it, you should read yesterday's post before this one. Otherwise, continue:

As a student advocate for the Joseph family, and
the one responsible for updating this website, I
wanted to express personal thanks to scoutprime
from the blog First-Draft. Without the hard work
and sacrifice that she has made over the past
week, the online donations initiative would most
likely be where it had been at that time (at $545).
The result of her hard work has been the posting
of the story at numerous high-profile blogs, and the
raising of approximately $7600 over the course of
the past week. This result truly goes to show the
power had in the care of many.

While I have been focused on maintaining this
website, my colleagues have been out and about
within the Holy Cross district of the Ninth Ward in
New Orleans trying to feel out the community, and
have gotten the chance to meet many an
interesting individual. We have all been startled by
how lively and vibrant the constituents of this
community are. Every Thursday a quaint little
church is filled to the brim with residents of the
area as they discuss the issues of their community
in a neighborhood meeting. There also seems to
always be someone in the audience that is from
another region of the country visiting to see how
they might help this underserved area.

This past week, an architect with group from
Kansas that I believe was termed the "Green
House Project" offered a little hope to the Joseph
family's cause. He stated that they were looking for
a house to use in their design project, and there is
somewhat of a possibilty that their house could be
chosen. It's probably a long shot, but it is
encouraging just the same. I mention this with the
hope that perhaps someone reading this will have
an idea along these lines that could help connect
the family to an organization that might be able to
assist in the rebuild of their home.

On a somewhat related note, the Brad Pitt-related
organization has been picking up a lot of steam
lately as could be seen by the area being visited by
former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. We've
been trying to help connect the family to this
organization as it seems to be an ideal balance of
understanding the financial circumstance of the
residents of the Ninth Ward, and helping them to
help themselves. We haven't been able initiate a
dialogue with them yet, so please keep this in your
thoughts.

Until next time, take care of yourselves; and don't
hesitate to drop a line at:
[email protected]