Four years after Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast was still recovering from the devastating effects of that storm.The Home Building Industry Disaster Relief Fund (HBIDRF) stepped in to help rebuild homes devastated by the storm.
Date: 2009
Location: Franklinton, La.
For the third year in a row, the HBIDRF proudly supported the efforts of builders from Illinois who volunteered their time and construction skills to help a family in the Gulf Coast.
In 2009, Illinois home builders coordinated with the Orland Park Church to build a new home for Georgia Roberts and her family, in Franklinton, La. Like many other families, more than three and half years after the storms, the Roberts were still living in “temporary” housing supplied by FEMA.
Then, in February 2009, Len Kamp, a member of the , and 59 volunteers from the Chicago area went to Franklinton and built a new home for Roberts and her family in just five weeks.
Date: 2009
Location: New Orleans
Gwendolyn and Henry Adams had lived in their home in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward for 30 years before it was destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Katrina. The retired school teacher and cab driver thought they’d never be able to rebuild. Then a chance meeting brought them to the attention of a group of local and national home builders.
Members of the NAHB’s Building Systems Councils, in coordination with the and , donated material, time and talent. And the HBIDRF provided a grant to support the project.
To showcase the speed and efficiency of systems-built homes as a solution to post-disaster housing, the Adams’ home was built using a panelized construction technique where the wall panels are pre-constructed in a controlled factory environment and delivered to the job site to be set in place.
The builders worked from dawn to dusk, and in just six weeks, presented the keys to a brand-new panelized home to the Adams’ family s on Aug. 29, 2009, nearly four years to the day after the hurricane.