- Gail Tucker in front of her Gentilly home
5169 Venus St. in Gentilly
ACORN's 1,000 gutted Home
Gail Tucker, 54, has been a postal employee for 25 years. Living in Baton Rogue with her son who is a law school student at LSU.
“I’m extremely grateful for the effort ACORN has made. This is such a great help I really wasn’t aware of ACORN being involved with these types of things. It’s a pleasure for me to now be involved. They call me and tell me about events that are going on. If I can’t make it, I’ll send a contribution. (read more)
14725 Emory Rd, New Orleans, LA 70128 (map it)
DAN CAVALIER and his family have lived in their house for 26 years. The first 15 years it was just Dan and his wife, but then their daughter and her 3 children moved in.
Asked what they are missing most about their neighborhood, Dan says, "Everything!" He wants potential volunteers or donors to know the gutting program is "essential to getting people back home".
7071 Edgefield Dr, New Orleans, LA 70128 (map it)
STEVE CHARLES lived in his house for 2 years with his wife & 4 daughters: Jessica, age 10; Michela, age 8; Stasia, age 3; and Aiyana, age 1.
They were in Alabama for a while, but are now staying in New Orleans at a temporary location.
They aren't quite sure what they're going to do with the house, but Steve says, "New Orleans East is home! We go back to look at the house every few days and we see more and more people moving back to the neighborhood in New Orleans East, so we hope maybe we can too!"
He says "ACORN did a real good job" gutting the house, and "fast". He wants people who might be potential volunteers or donors to know the program is "a big help to people, because the FEMA insurance is just not enough".
ANONYMOUS
He, his wife & their adult son lived in their home for 12 years. They plan to come back home, are just "waiting for the new floodplain maps & directions from the city". When asked what they miss the most, he responded "The people!"
They are in touch with some of their former neighbors & know some who are "working on coming back" & some who are, like he, "just waiting".
9th Ward
BEVERLY HALL lived in her house for 30 years & is now staying in Jefferson Parish. She's not sure what she's going to be doing with the house, but says she is "missing the people from the old neighborhood".
She thought ACORN did "a beautiful job" gutting her house. "They did more than I expected - - took out the bathroom fixtures and the ceiling" which is what she had really wanted, but she hadn't realized "they could do all that".
1618 Desire St, New Orleans, LA 70117 (map it)
Mr. Hines, his wife & 23-yr-old daughter lived in their 9th Ward house & are now in Houston.
ACORN did "a wonderful job" with the gutting & "the house can be saved" but he's not sure when they'll be coming back; they're "just waiting now".
3801 N Robertson St, New Orleans, LA 70117 (Map it)
G. LEWIS looks out for her godparents, L. and J. BONDS, ages 80 & 83. The godparents had been living in the 9th Ward house that was gutted by ACORN. They are now in Lake Providence, Louisiana.
Gilda says they all very much want to come home. "You can't keep us away from our city!" Before Katrina, Gilda rode in Zulu, worked at JazzFest, was employed as a concierge at city hotels & says, "I've promoted this city so much, I feel like I own it!"
Gilda went with ACORN to Washington for the Feb. rally & lobbying of legislators & is very committed to the rebuilding of New Orleans.
618 Andry St, New Orleans, LA 70117 (map it)
ALONIA RIGGELTON lived in her house for 15 yrs. with her daughter & grandbaby, who had moved out only one week before the storm.
"Most of their things were still in the house - - highchair and everything - - and now it's all gone, along with all my pictures and memories and everything!"
They are all in Houston now, but her daughter doesn't want her to sell the house, so Alonia is still paying the insurance & planning to return in April because she "loved those 2800 square feet".
She "tells everyone ACORN did a great job" gutting her house. "They scraped the floors and left the fireplace and the studs look like new! It was a beautiful job!"
4800 Maid Marion Dr, New Orleans, LA 70128 (map it)
MARY SANTIAGO lived in her house with her friend for 14 years. They're now in Texas and "hoping to come home soon". ACORN did "a wonderful job" gutting their house.
2533 Lavender St, New Orleans, LA 70122 (Map it)
THELMA STARWOOD lived in her Gentilly home for 17 years. She's now staying with other people in Metairie & goes in 2-3 times a week to check on her house.
She's waiting for a FEMA trailer to put at her daughter's house, which is a mile away from her gutted home, but will put her close enough so that she can rebuild.
She's staying in touch with her neighbors & they are committed to moving back. When asked about the ACORN gutting, Thelma said, "I'm going to tell you the truth, you could not find better people anywhere than those people who gutted my house!!"
8025 Curran Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70126 (Map it)
DEIDRE THOMPSON lived in her house for 13 years with her two children, 12 & 14. They are in Augusta, GA now but are hoping to come home.
She couldn't be there when the gutting was done, but saw it later & was pleased at how thorough the ACORN crew was: "They took everything out - - debris, walls, heavy books, fridge, everything - - they did an excellent job."
