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Remembering Katrina
September 3, 2008
We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
-Joseph Campbell
-Joseph Campbell
In June, 2008 the Exchange team, led by Kay Albrecht and Luis Hernandez, traveled to New Orleans to offer a day of "Replenishing, Rebuilding, and Rejuvenating" for 400 early childhood professionals from the Gulf Coast region (a story of this "spa" day appears in the September 2008 issue of Exchange). While in New Orleans we had an opportunity to tour the city with local residents and see the terrible impact and the extreme lack of progress in rejuvenating this once great city.
The impact on the early childhood community was huge. Countless early childhood professionals were endangered and displaced. Prior to Katrina there were 275 child care centers operating in the city. Three years later, there are only 116. The cover story for the September issue of Exchange features one of the centers that rebuilt, Gilda's Academy. Read the story of Gilda and Warren Duplessis' effort to rebuild their lives and their work.
While we wait to find out how Gilda, Warren, and other early childhood professionals fared from Hurricane Gustav, please know that there is something we all can do to help. The early childhood community of the Gulf Coast region continues to need our support. Dedicated, passionate early childhood professionals face great challenges every day to serve the traumatized children and their families in this part of the United States. Messages of support and financial donations for the purchase of children’s books should be sent directly to:
Keep on top of all the latest developments in our field and benefit from practical, field-tested management and curriculum ideas. Don't wait — subscribe to Exchange today! If you want to purchase five or more subscriptions at a discounted rate, contact Shasta Weiss at [email protected].
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ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
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Comments (1)
Displaying 1 CommentDoD
Waldorf, MD, United States
I read your daily articles. Some I enjoy. Some I have no opinion of. A few I save for the quotes preceding the article. I've have never felt moved to comment before. I agree with every word in the article yet I am bothered by it. I wonder how you came to choose the adjective "pathetic". That is how you described the response after Katrina. I wonder what your qualifications are and I wonder did you live there like I did. I wonder who you assign the "pathetic response" to. I am an early childhood person, but I have an adequate knowledge of local, state and federal government. Our family moved from the state a year after the hurricanes. We considered it prior to the hurricanes, but the state and local responses to the events from the Governor down to the NO Mayor sealed the deal for us. There is a different type of mentality in LA. There were politicians in trouble for huge amounts of embezzled money found hidden in extra refridgerators, solicitations of lady friends, etc. The people chose the leaders by vote. The leaders weren't particularly qualified in emergency management. Semi after semi of water and supplies was turned away because most people didn't have a clue what to do. The people got what they voted for as far as skill level. That was the mentality - The Big Easy. My words are not intended to be rude, but to share my opinion via freedom of speech. Another quick note - the lower amount of centers can appear devastatingly low, but it must be put in perspective... the populations is smaller so the need is less so there are fewer center.
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