Homeowner Bio

The Tinson family has been approved for the Rebuilding Program, but SBP does not have sufficient funds to begin work on their home. Read their story and Donate Now to get them home!

Kendrick Tinson, “33 years young,” is a union insulator and a proud member of Local 53. He and his wife Amy have been married 15 years. They have an 11-year-old son who is named after his dad. Amy, pregnant with their second child, was recently laid off from her job in an accounting office. Before Hurricane Katrina, this young family had a good life in St. Bernard Parish and were happy there. But now they are struggling to regain that life.

Four and a half years ago, Kendrick and Amy bought their dream home in Violet with money they had saved from their jobs. They had just finished redoing the whole house, right down to the trim work, when Katrina came and took it all away. Kendrick says they had finished the final touches and “it would have been perfect.” He did the work himself with help from friends, making a deep personal commitment of time, money and his own hard work. He says he felt good when it was done but “now I think of it a lot—of all we lost. Now it’s all gone.”

The Tinson family escaped the storm, going first to an aunt’s house in a secure part of Louisiana. They stayed there for three months and then traveled on to Virginia, where they stayed with Kendrick’s brother for two months. Although it was a difficult time, “stuck in a strange place with strange people,” they made sure Kendrick Jr. attended school so that his education would not be too severely disrupted. The people in Virginia were fine, but it wasn’t home. It was not their old, familiar, loved community where close family and close friends had surrounded them. And Kendrick wanted and needed to work.

Once they were officially allowed to return, the family visited their old home. On the first day possible, they were there on Paris Road at 4 a.m. waiting to get in, in a long line of cars filled with other families anxious to see what had happened to their homes.

The house looked okay from the outside, but Kendrick went in first, wanting to make sure it was safe for Amy and Kendrick Jr. to enter. When he opened the door, the doorframe fell apart. Inside, the house had sustained an incredible amount of damage. Everything that had been in the attic was now on the floor of their once-beautiful living room, under 12 inches of mud. Everything they owned was ruined. They lost all their furniture, their clothes—everything. All the time, personal energy, hard work and money they had invested in making their house a home was gone. They were heartbroken.

Relatives and neighbors later told Amy and Kendrick that water had reached and even gone over the rooftops of the houses in that area. People had been standing on the roofs for two days before they were rescued and the water slowly receded. Even five days after Katrina, the water in the streets was eight or nine feet high, and the only way to get around was by rowboat.

Amy and their son went back to Virginia, and Kendrick stayed with family in Gonzalez, driving to New Orleans each day to work and earning money to bring his family back home. He missed his wife and child. “Working was what kept me from going insane,” he said. “I needed to bring them back.”

And he did. The Tinson family is reunited in St. Bernard Parish, living in an apartment in Violet. Kendrick Jr. is in his own school with his old friends, doing very well. Kendrick has done what he can to repair the house by himself, buying materials using the meager funds from the Road Home program and his own saved money. Now this hard working family needs some help to return to their former life and the forward track they had achieved.

The St. Bernard Project is rebuilding his sister’s home, and she told him about the organization. His mom is back in the Parish, his sister’s house is about 80% done, and his aunt’s house is done. Kendrick has helped them all. He says he will be at his own house every day and do all that he can to help move the work along. He wants to feel good again about putting his own effort into rebuilding his own home. Kendrick Tinson will do the best he can for his family. His greatest hope is that they will regain the life they had before disaster struck, this time with a new baby.

You can move the Tinson's home!

• $2,500 buys the necessary insulation, drywall and paint for the Tinson's house.
• $2,000 buys a sink, cabinets and countertop for their kitchen.
• $1,800 buys the flooring.
• $1,300 buys windows.
• $1,100 buys the necessary electrical supplies, including wires and the panel.
• $1,000 buys a refrigerator and stove.
• $700 buys doors and trim.
• $500 buys toilets, sinks, tubs and tile for a bathroom.
• $300 buys a water heater.
• $12,000 will fund total supplies necessary to rebuild the Tinson family’s home.

Home Update

4/17/09
Volunteers from Sonomoa State University in Rohnet Park, Ca, completed them mold remediation process in Kendrick's home this week. The group loved talking to the the Parish locals and had lots of fun with their supervisors Sarah and Seven.