By Rindy Metcalf
rdm018@latech.edu

Even six months after Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf Coast, some areas of New Orleans and other southern states look like it could have happened yesterday.

At least that is what Kathy Reeg, the president of the Katrina Foundation for Recovery, perceived during her visit to New Orleans April 21-23. Because the New Orleans area is in such great need for supplies and aid, the foundation, Books to You, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to building libraries in the areas devastated by the hurricane, the KenTenn Relief Team and Wynton Marsalis teamed up to make the first step of book recovery in the Gulf Coast: donating 5,000 books to St. Mary's Academy in New Orleans.

"Providing books for the children of New Orleans was such a privilege," Reeg said. "To not continue the effort of restoring their libraries would be unthinkable." Reeg said the Katrina Foundation for Recovery did not act as simply a delivery method for the Books to You campaign, but that its members got to experience aspects of New Orleans that did not exist before Hurricane Katrina hit the area. "It was quite an experience all the way around," Reeg said. "The people of New Orleans are so grateful and so humbled by the whole thing. There is just a whole different atmosphere ... the people here have been through so much that it's kind of like a change in priorities."

Reeg also said participation in the events of the weekend allowed the foundation to get in touch with other groups that could help with its cause. "God just provided for a tremendous networking opportunity to get people to know what we're about and what we're doing with the Katrina Foundation," Reeg said. She also said the foundation will continue to participate in fund-raising events such as selling "Bluebands for Katrina" and participating in an online auction. "One hundred percent of the funds received from the sale of the bands go to the relief effort," Reeg said.

Others have taken note of how much the Ruston area has provided for those in need in the Gulf Coast area. "The Katrina Foundation has impacted many lives in the Gulf Coast area," Rick Hohlt, the vice president for the Katrina Foundation and the publisher of The Ruston Daily Leader, said. "Our regional community has donated more than $50,000 to the recovery effort through donations and the sale of wristbands." Hohlt said the money has been donated to charities that have supplied water, food, clothing, medical supplies, beds, recreational equipment and building supplies to those with the most critical needs. Other uses for the funds include providing shelter and transportation for delivery of donated goods from across America. "This is an ongoing effort," Hohlt said. "We will continue raising funds as long as there's a need. Donations to the Foundation are tax deductible and very much needed."

Anyone wishing to make a donation may contact Reeg at 243-0005 or Hohlt at 255-4353.

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