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Homeowner Bio
Jennifer Lanier and her three children, Zillah, Lillian and Isabella, continue to struggle to return home more than four years after Hurricane Katrina tore apart everything the had.
Before the storm, Jennifer had a job she loved, and she was able to provide for her family.
“I felt like I was in a really great place back then,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer lightheartedly took the advice to evacuate and figured her and her children would be back home in a few days. She and her family made the journey to Carriere, Mississippi to stay with Jennifer’s brother.
Katrina hit and Jennifer and her family, like many others, realized they lost everything.
Jennifer and her family spent about a month with her brother before packing up to head to another family members' home.
“We’ve never had complete stability to know where we are going to be,” Jennifer said.
“It was the worst situation I'd ever been in,” Jennifer said. “You didn't want to overstay your welcome, but knew that you really had nowhere else to go. So it got to a point where I would spend a couple nights here, a couple nights there, a couple nights in the car. It was awful.”
Jennifer knew the lack of stability and home was starting to hurt her kids. One day her soon looked at her and said, “Well, where are we going now?”
“This was the worse period of my entire life. It hurt my feelings to hear him say that,” Jennifer said as her voice began to crack.
Jennifer decided to take her family and stay with her grandmother in Mississippi. She wanted to keep her children in school because it was the only form of stability they had and they were doing well. Jennifer found ways to make extra money doing odd jobs such as cleaning houses.
By the end of the school year, Jennifer was having a hard time making rent, and her mother wanted her to return home. In August of 2009, four years post Katrina, Jennifer and her family returned to the Greater New Orleans region and moved in with her mother and little brother in Violet.
Since returning to St. Bernard Parish, Jennifer has continued to struggle with putting the fragments of her life back together. Finding a job was nearly impossible. Many businesses had yet to reopen.
“I just wanted someone to give me a chance and no one would. I just kept wondering,” Jennifer said, “When is someone going to give me the break I need?”
With three young children to provide for and no job offers, Jennifer lacked the funding and assistance needed to rebuild her home and family.
The family continues to stay with Jennifer’s mom, all four of them sharing one bed.
The toll of Hurricane Katrina has affected every aspect of Jennifer’s family. “My kids have been going through a lot,” she says. “First of all we are displaced from home, we’ve been moving around and it’s affected my son a lot. I feel like he is angry.”
Knowing that the parish was looking to demolish her potential new home, Jennifer knew she had to act quickly. She contacted the St. Bernard Project and asked for help.
Jennifer’s house has been approved for SBP’s Rebuilding Program, but SBP does not have sufficient funds to begin work on their home.
Jennifer looks forward to the future knowing her children will had a bed to sleep in at night.
“I’m excited, I’ve never had my own home where I can do things my own way and my kids haven’t either,” Jennifer said. “They [my kids] are so excited to have their own room. Zillah envisions his in his head all the time. What he’s going to have in there.”
Jennifer’s only been able to provide the bare necessities for her children the past four years, so thought of being able to provide them with their own room means a lot to her.
In the last month, Jennifer has begun working at a small, local restaurant and is doing what she can to get by.
Of all the people who have and will help her family, Jennifer said, “Its kind of like planting seeds. When you help somebody, it’s going to come back to you and give you something in return.
Jennifer, Zillah, Lillian and Isabella won’t be receiving a home this Christmas, but they have hope for next year.
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