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TRAGEDY
STRIKES BEACON FAMILY
 The Beacon of
Hope expresses
its
deepest sympathy to our Volunteer Director, Heather Huth and her family at the death of her brother, Chad Huth. Chad
graduated from Holy Cross High School in 2004. After finishing his course work at the
locally-based Louisiana Technical College,
he was an aspiring electrician when his young life was cut short on April 21st. Please keep Heather and her family in
your thoughts and prayers as they face
the difficult challenges of Chad's untimely passing.
Chad's Funeral will be held at the
Greenwood Cemetery, 5200 Canal Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70124 on Monday April 26th,
2010. Visitation will be held from 9 A.M. - 1 P.M. with the Funeral
beginning at 1 P.M.
In
lieu of flowers,
the family requests that donations be madeto Shared Vision Track Club or the Chad Huth Scholarship fund which has been set
up at Holy Cross School to sponsor tuition for a deserving student.
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Dear Friend of the Beacon of Hope Resource Center ,
The
following are just two of the many letters we receive from grateful homeowners
that express thanks to our volunteers, staff and neighborhood Beacon Team
Leaders who have dedicated their lives in service to others. Together, we all
touch the lives of so many in a very significant way each and every day and
these letters articulate the impact of our
work.
 I am writing to
thank you and commend the efforts of Connie Uddo and her associates, Randy and
Heather. Thanks to their help and the help of the many volunteers
they steered my way, I am finally nearing completion of my Katrina
rebuild.
At the time I met Connie, I was in deep despair over my rebuilding struggle. I
had been working alone for several months and was overwhelmed with my slow
progress. Thanks t o the volunteers funneled through your ministry, today I
see light at the end of a long tunnel. I have a sense of renewed hope that
I may soon get to live in my home again.
May God bless you, Connie, Randy, Heather, all of the volunteers, and all of
those responsible for the Beacon of Hope. I am forever grateful.
Sincerely,
Reuben B. - Gentilly Resident
Dear
Randy,
I can't thank you
enough for arranging the volunteers to help with my landscaping. It is the first
time it has been completed all at once in 15 years and never since Katrina. The
Rabbi's that helped were wonderful and we enjoyed our conversations especially
during lunch when we prayed together. What a great group of
people.
The beautiful look
around the house gives a calmness to our family. We call it
Zack's garden after our son
we lost last May. If it wasn't for you I could never have done
it myself. It has been a
difficult year for our family. Perhaps if we ever get the land behind us we'll
be able to extend Zack's garden with veggie and fruit trees. He would of liked
that. It's something he enjoyed when he was younger.
Once again,
thanks
Dolly M. - Gentilly
Resident
Please consider building upon this foundation by volunteering, or donating to the Beacon of Hope Resource
Center. Each drop of water helps create a river. Your contribution will assist
us in continuing this very meaningful work for our
residents.
The Beacon of Hope
Resource Center
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Sports for a Cause partners with Beacon
of Hope and the Bethune School
 Brandon
Tosti, founder of Denver-based Sports for a Cause, whose "mission is to
clean and rebuild playgrounds and youth athletic facilities in the Gulf
Region
that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina," was looking for an organization
with which to form a long-term partnership, as well as a project in
which he
and his team could invest. This partnership between Sports for a Cause
and Beacon
of Hope began to take shape in February 2010, when Tosti and Beacon
staff began
talking with the Hollygrove-Dixon Beacon and Bethune Elementary School administration. School officials
were encouraged to make a "wish list" of things they
would like to see done for their school and its campus. Tosti
and fourteen
volunteers descended upon Bethune Elementary, a public school in Hollygrove-Dixon on March 26 and
27 to build wooden flower boxes and benches. In anticipation of continuing their
partnership, Sports for a Cause already has expressed interest in bringing more
volunteers to New Orleans this fall.
Also at Bethune Elementary: A Day
of Celebration -Hollygrove-Dixon Beacon Holds Event to Honor Their
Neighborhood Public School
 "If something really works, it's worth celebrating and [Bethune
Elementary] works," Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association member
Charles Bosworth told The Louisiana Weekly. On April 21, 2010, The
Hollygrove-Dixon Beacon held a celebration of the accomplishments of Bethune
Elementary. The program featured Irma Thomas singing the National
Anthem, Times-Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBarry giving the keynote address, and
performances by Bethune students, The McDonough 35 Marching Band led
a parade through the neighborhood.
 The Hollygrove-Dixon Beacon owes much of its networking and organizational
success to Beacon of Hope Resource Center which provided recovery and resource services to
neighborhoods throughout the city almost immediately after hurricane Katrina.
To read the full article posted in the Louisiana Weekly click here.
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Road Home rebuilding covenants have had mixed results, review
suggests
By
David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
April 18, 2010, 11:30AM
More than 40,000 New Orleans homeowners chose Road Home's Option 1, requiring
them to use their gran t money to rebuild and reoccupy their home within three
years.
The community group Beacon of Hope took action last year to find out how well
people were complying, calling on resident
driven Survey Teams from a dozen neighborhood
organizations to assess the
condition of every property over the last six months.
What they fou nd calls into question the effectiveness of the covenants, and the
way the state has chosen to monitor and enforce them.
Beacon of Hope has encouraged the LRA to implement an
outreach program which would identify grant recipients who have not rebuilt and implement programs
to help them to overcome their roadblocks in rebuilding.
To read full article click here.
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GIS Gives Residents the Tools to Map Their Own
Parcels
The Beacon of Hope Resource Center Maps the "New" New Orleans
Arc News, an
international magazine with over 800,000 readers, the Beacon of Hope. ArcNews is published quarterly for the Environmental
Systems Research Institute user
community and for others interested in mapping and geographic information
system (GIS) technology. It contains material of interest to Business
professionals, planners, foresters, scientists, cartographers, academicians,
geographers, engineers, and others who use spatial information. One of
Beacons signature programs is resident driven data collection and mapping the
results using ArcGIS.
Highlights of the article
are: GIS analyses by the Beacon
of Hope were graphically presented to residents and local government. BOH used standard ArcGIS
functionality to seamlessly integrates public and community data. Residents in neighborhood
Beacons are empowered through the use of ArcGIS.
To read full article click here.
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Denise Thornton appointed
Co-Chair of the
Neighborhood Development Task Force
Mayor-elect
Landrieu is getting advice on how to improve  neighborhoods from Denise
Thornton, the wife of Superdome executive Doug Thornton, the co-leader
of his Transition Team. Denise Thornton founded the Beacon of Hope, which has
pioneered the neighbor-to-neighbor effort to rebuild Lakeview and other
sections of the city after Hurricane Katrina.
Taken from Mitch
Landrieu advisory task forces include family,
friends, foes By Frank Donze, The Times-Picayune, April 17, 2010,
8:00AM. To read full article click here. |
BOH Board Member Dana
Shepard awarded the Roger Bissinger Memorial Award
 On March 4,
2010, the Jewish Federation's Roger Bissinger Memorial Award was presented to
Dana Shepard for her steadfast commitment and leadership in civic, education
and cultural endeavors in our community. Mrs. Shepard is a past recipient
of the NCJW Harold Salmon Award for Volunteerism, the Jewish Federation Herbert
J. Garon Young Leadership Award and the Anne Goldsmith Hanaw and J. Jerome
Hanaw Tikkun Award for Campaign
Excellence. Dana has been a board member of the Beacon of Hope since its
inception and has been on many other boards and commissions throughout her
lifetime. Although she is a CPA by profession, Dana has made a career of
volunteerism.
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BOH partners
with Youth Rebuild, a local workforce training program to Provide Skilled Construction Assistance.
 Over the past several months, Beacon of Hope has partnered with Youth Rebuild to offer skilled construction services to homeowners in Gentilly. Youth
Rebuild, a program of The Hope Center of Louisiana, educates and trains
out-of-school and out-of-work young people ages 18-24 in construction-related
skills, taking participants to low-income, distressed communities where they
can use their newfound construction know-how. They also help its participants
obtain several kinds of certification, including OSHA safety, mold removal, and
CPR.
Youth
Rebuild is working with Beacon of Hope to revitalize homes that are in need of
medium to heavy construction, and are nearing completion of their first
project, working at the home of Ms. Florence Harris in the Pontilly
neighborhood of Gentilly, with two more projects lined up for the next few
weeks. The partnership with Youth Rebuild allows Beacon of Hope to provide
resources and services to an even greater number of Gentilly's residents.
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Ashley Christensen joins the Beacon of
Hope Staff
 Ashley Christensen is
the new Volunteer Supervisor at Beacon of Hope.
Ashley has two years of volunteer and construction experience in the
greater New Orleans area. After graduating college she located to New
Orleans
to join in the recovery efforts, working with a faith based recovery
program as
a Site Leader/ Volunteer Supervisor. She is from Cedar Falls, Iowa
where
she attended Hawkeye Community College and worked as a Non-Foods
Assistant
Manager at a local grocery store as well as a Youth Group leader at
Bethlehem
Lutheran Church.
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The 311 phone reporting system that handled city of New Orleans issues and
problems has been dissolved.
Effective immediately, please call 658-2299 and follow the prompts
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If you are a Senior or know of a Senior in
the Lakeveiw or Gentilly area that likes to
socialize, check out the Seniors Luncheon held every 2nd Friday of
the month at the Shephard Center located at 5914 Canal Street in
Lakeview from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
For more information on the Seniors luncheons, call
504-484-0885.
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BOH
Volunteers Assist the Willie Hall Playground
Fifteen
young men from Desmit Jesuit School in St. Louis, Missouri installed two
brand
new basketball goals at NORD's Willie Hall Playground in New Orleans.
The goals
and posts were donated by another volunteer group TEAMS, in October. Mr. Larry Barabino, Willie
Hall's playground booster president, assisted in supervision of the
installation process. Also donated to
the playground were a set of basketball court stencils and paint for
painting
lines around the two new goals. |
Beacon of Hope Resource Center's Upcoming Events
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Harrison Avenue
Marketplace
May 12, 2010
4:30 P.M - 8:30 P.M.
801 Harrison Ave
New Orleans, LA 70124
Shephard Center Senior Luncheon
May 14, 2010
11:30 A.M - 1:30 P.M.
5914 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70124
Paris Oaks/ Bayou Vista Spring Fling
May 15, 2010
3:00 P.M - 5:30 P.M.
New Orleans, LA 70124
Vista Park Spring Fling
May 15, 2010
Pratt Park
New Orleans, LA 70122
Mirabeau Gardens and Oak Park Spring Fling
May 23, 2010
1:00 P.M. - 3:30 P.M.
Oak Park, between Gardena and Rivera
New Orleans, LA 70124
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Beacon of Hope Resource Center is Supported by:
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United Way Pledge code 3672
United Way CFC Code 15984
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| Contact Information |
Beacon of Hope Resource Center
145 Robert E. Lee Blvd., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70124
504-309-5120
www.lakewoodbeacon.org |
Beacon of Hope Resource Center Mission:
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Leading the way home, Beacon of Hope Resource Center provides
a model for recovery in neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Katrina, as well
as other areas affected by disaster. Providing information
and resources, encouraging
civic action, and fostering repopulation form the foundation on which
we build and grow. Beacon of Hope empowers residents to
facilitate their own recovery while providing a hub of resident driven
activities and a safe environment to create the synergy essential for
restoring
viable neighborhoods and improve the overall quality of life for
residents. |
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