Katrina
Update
Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort Final Report
We are happy to report to you on the final results of the Dewan Foundation’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort. With your generous support and the Foundation’s match, we raised a total of $60,187 for the project. Thank you!
The focus of most of the grants was on the needs of local schools in the Gulf Region. Realizing the long-term need of jobless and underemployed adults, we also decided to support a very innovative effort providing both training and job opportunities for disadvantaged people.
Here is the list of organizations funded in 2005 and 2006 and grant amounts for the project:
Communities in Schools New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
$10,000 to coordinate support services for returning evacuee students that enhance school success.
Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School, New Orleans, LA
$15,000 to support costs of school reopening and accelerated curriculum for children from poverty families.
Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy at Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
$3,650 for the Bridge Collaborative training project for unemployed and underemployed.
Resurrection Middle/High School, Pascagoula, MS
$14,000 for the purchase of furniture, equipment and supplies.
School Sisters of St. Francis, Milwaukee, WI
$500 for tutoring and counseling of evacuee children in Walls, MS.
St. Thomas the Apostle School, Long Beach, MS
$18,000 for school rebuilding.
Here is what we have heard from some our grantees:
…“the support of The Dewan Foundation went directly to assist public school students and families returning to New Orleans. The first semester, we were able to work directly with three schools and…..through multiple community partnerships, we were able to bring in a regularly scheduled medical van with mental health services for students and families at school sites; coordinate additional mental health services such as trauma relief and anger management classes; rebuild tutoring and mentoring programs by recreating programs and systems; and retraining volunteers; and connect schools with multiple arts and enrichment providers so that children had programs such as guitar lessons, visual arts, dance classes, and others, that are so important to children, but particularly children post-Katrina.”
--Donna Maria Cavato, Executive Director, Communities in Schools New Orleans, August 31, 2006.
“Your generous donation has assisted us in reopening the school to these children who have suffered the ravages of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction. We definitely think that we are making a difference with the children who are enrolled in the Good Shepherd School, as well as their parents, and we believe that there is a ripple effect in the community as we rebuild and heal.”
“Unlike other private schools, Good Shepherd does not generate operating income from tuition or alumni generosity. We rely entirely on the support and kindness of individuals, businesses and foundations who believe in our mission and the potential of every child to succeed. Our donors know that a gift in support of our school is a gift in support of rebuilding a New Orleans in which even the poorest children are valued and loved.”
--John C. McNamara, II Chairman of the Board, Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School, January 23 and November 28, 2006
“Donors like you have made the task of replacing our items a blessing from Heaven. Each time we identify a need, God sends us a group like the Dewan Foundation to assist in meeting our needs.”
“Because of the generosity of many organizations and individuals, the classrooms at Resurrection Catholic Middle/High have been restored. We are gradually replacing many of the instructional and resource materials our teachers lost during Katrina. Currently, our science labs and cafeteria are only partially restored.”
“The task of restoration is one that I would never have believed would take so much time and resources. We are a work in progress with many projects still pending.”
--Darnell Cuevas, Principal, Resurrection Middle/High School, Pascagoula, MS, December 7, 2005 and May 10 and June 9, 2006
“The Bridge Collaborative is up and functioning post-Katrina. Three classes of formerly marginalized local residents have been recruited and are either hired or in training for well paying entry-level jobs with good advancement potential in our two largest shipyards.”
--Michael A. Cowan, Ph.D., Professor and Executive Director, Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy, Loyola University of New Orleans, June 26, 2006
