Leila is a young, single mom of two: a five year old son and a 10 month old daughter.  Before the storm, Leila was married and her young family had recently moved back to St. Bernard Parish where she grew up.  They moved into a rental house just a few weeks before the storm-she hadn’t even finished unpacking yet when the storm came, the house flooded and all of her things were lost.

After the storm, Leila helped her parents get their house together, doing most of the gutting on her parents’ house by herself and after she and her husband separated, Leila and her two kids moved in with her parents.  While its nice to be around family, it’s a little crowded and Leila’s mom was generous enough to purchase a gutted home for her daughter and grandchildren.  Unfortunately, Leila had of course just given birth to her daughter and didn’t have a job so she had no way of rebuilding her house.  She now has a job with State Farm insurance company as a receptionist but is working towards getting her license already (just a couple of months into the job!) so she can be an insurance agent.