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Welcome Home White Family!
Frank White has been part of the St. Bernard Project family for many years, and has continued to support rebuilding efforts. On Friday, October 2, SBP celebrated the completion of Frank's daughter's home. Donna White and her three children will soon be able to move home. The White family, in addition to SBP staff and volunteers, celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony and cake. In addition, the family was presented with a welcome home gift from Rock Harbor volunteers.
Homeowner Bio
 At age 31, Donna White had a full and busy life as a divorced single mother caring for her three children. Regan, Rachel and Aaron, ages 14, 12 and 9, had “a pretty good life—a normal, everyday life.” They all lived in a mobile home in St. Bernard Parish where Donna had been raised, and they enjoyed the closeness of family and long-time friends.
All this changed with the advent of Hurricane Katrina. The family not only lost their home and everything in it; they lost the security and familiarity special to that once-stable community—the feeling that goes with living in one place your whole life. She has always kept her children’s best interests at heart, and more than anything, Donna hopes that she and her children can return to that life.
Before the storm, they evacuated to a shelter in Mississippi and then traveled with Donna’s mother to Georgia, where they stayed with her sister for a year. Her father, a devoted animal lover, stayed behind with his dog and endured many days stranded on the roof of his building before he was finally rescued. Donna was able to bring only a suitcase of clothes and a box of papers with her. They got to Georgia just in time for the children to start the school year. Donna is grateful the school system there took Regan, Rachel and Aaron in so quickly; especially since their school documentation from Louisiana had been lost during the hurricane. That helped make the change smoother for the children. The family stayed close, even in Georgia, and the kids had their cousins to go to school and to play with.
At the end of the school year, Donna brought her family back to St. Bernard Parish. “I grew up there, spent my whole life there. I wanted to go back. I guess it’s just home,” she says. However, their former home had disappeared. Not a trace of it was left. FEMA had removed all the mobile homes and turned the entire area into a FEMA trailer park.
Currently the family is staying with a friend. The three children are happy to be back in their more familiar schools with their old friends, although they miss their aunt and their cousins and especially their grandmother who stayed in Georgia. When they move into their new house, they’ll be able to invite the whole family to visit.
The St. Bernard Project is rebuilding a house that Donna’s father bought for her in the Parish. He has been ill recently and now Donna can help care for him. She says she’s looking forward to helping the volunteers rebuild her own home. “The kids are excited,” she says. “They’re really ready to get settled somewhere. It’s been a really stressful time. Hopefully, I can relax a little. I hope this is the last time we’ll have to move for a really long time.”
| 9/15/09
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Under Construction
Some of our homes currently under Construction
Barbara Williams, New Orleans, LA
Brenda Dupre-Williams, Lower 9th
Chana King, Violet, LA
Clarence and Diane Victorian, New Orleans East, LA
Cologero Caillouet, Chalmette, LA
Darren Anderson, Violet, LA
Darryn Carreras, Chalmette, LA
Darrell Betha, Mereaux, LA
David Lagrange, Arabi, LA
David Melerine, St Bernard, LA
Deborah Vita, Violet, LA
Debra Brown, Gentilly, LA
Delia Doty, Chalmette, LA
Donald & Tonya Topey, Violet, LA
Donnell Barthelemy, Violet, LA
Donnie Panarello, Chalmette, LA
Evelyn Solis, Chalmette, LA
Gerry Bierria, New Orleans, LA
Glenda Ceaser, Violet, LA
Jennifer Lanier, Violet, LA
Joycelyn and Lawrence Stokes, St. Bernard, LA
Joyce Guient, New Orleans, LA
Juan Toledo, Arabi, LA
Keith Florane, Chalmette, LA
Kenneth Burrell, Arabi, LA
Kenneth Dorsey, Lower 9th
Kwame & Dominique Adansi-Bona, Gentilly, LA
Mathilda & August Miller, Chalmette, LA
Mona Lisa Payne, New Orleans, LA
Ralph Dipadova, Chalmette, LA
Rebecca Holmes, St. Bernard, LA
Regina Beal, Violet, LA
Rhonda Krantz, St. Bernard, LA
Ricky Diecidue, Meraux, LA
Robert & Amy Barlow, Meraux, LA
Roosevelt Houston, Lower 9th
Sabrina Pacaccio, Violet, LA
Shane & Tina Meshell, Meraux, LA
Sharen Williams, Arabi, LA
Theresa McLuckey, Chalmette, LA
Vanessa Havers, St. Bernard, LA
Velma Lewis, New Orleans, LA
Willie Major, Violet, LA
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