When you manage property for a living, being aware of other people's homes is practically a business preoccupation. It comes as no surprise then that 30-year Ketchum resident Dennis Williams noticed what was still going on in New Orleans 17 months after Hurricane Katrina. Homes were still not rebuilt and help was desperately needed.
"I've been to New Orleans six of seven times for the Jazz festival," Williams said. "It's not just food and music. It's the people. They're genuinely nice. I've never not had some type of neat experience when I'm there."
Wanting to participate in the ongoing rebuilding, he contacted Catholic Charities.
"I ran it by my primary employers, Peter and Betty Gray, and told them I really felt like I should go. They said they had tried to come up with something they could do, so they gave me a paid leave for the month. I couldn't have done it without that."
Williams' other employers, including Jack and Gail Thornton, Ranney and Pricilla Draper, Frank and Kate Gleason and Gary Goodenough, were all instrumental in donating money to the cause. Others who donated were the Pioneer Saloon, Sushi on Second, River Run Auto Parts and Evans Plumbing.
Williams subsequently spent February in New Orleans. He said Catholic Charities are the one organization he found that was really getting things done, along with some other faith-based charities. He worked on four or five homes while there, and lived in a garret in the Degas House, a house once lived in by the painter Edgar Degas, which was turned into a bed and breakfast inn.
A longtime plumber who has "worked in all aspects of the trades," Williams turned into a star volunteer, since he needed no supervision. He rebuilt stairs, did plumbing and carpentry, painted, installed appliances and put up sheet rock. At one home where he was working, another church group showed up with brand new appliances.
"They're choked up. I'm choked," Williams said. "It gets to you to how appreciative people are and how outgoing. I love New Orleans. I've always had good times there. If I could have done it financially, I would not have come back."
Two families in particular struck that nerve for Williams.
An 85-year-old woman named Wilma lives in the projects near the Superdome. The neighborhood before Katrina was already notorious for having three homicides a night, Williams said. "Now, at 4 p.m. in the afternoon no one is on the streets. The crack heads are the only ones out. I couldn't even leave my car unlocked while I was working or my tools would be gone."
Leroy and Germaine Luke, married 40 years, live in a stick frame home that had at one point been reinforced with brick. As a result, their house still stood but four to five feet of water had destroyed everything they owned.
"She was a teacher for 30 years," Williams said. "Then she lost her eyesight and was unable to work. He is on a fixed retirement income. They are legitimate recipients. You get an emotional attachment. I wanted to stay and see it to the end but I had to come back to take care of my own life."
Indeed, his girlfriend Bridget Gleeson, also a property manager, was handling both of their clients plus their dogs, while he was away. He is taking her to the Jazz Festival in May as a thank you.
However, it was not all work for Williams, who is a history and music buff. He learned to take afternoon siestas so that he could work later and then go out at night to hear music. He went to museums and battlefields and frequented local cafes and clubs where within moments people would be buying him drinks and introducing him around as a thank you for his help.
"There's so much left to do," he said. "It's a sad deal. The government is doing nothing. The people are so pissed off. It's not only the poor. There are people still living in FEMA trailers on their front lawns where they once had 4,000-square-foot homes.
"I really liked getting up in the morning. I'd think, let's see what we can accomplish today. It's a different perspective," he said. "When I left I was literally on the edge of tears."
Leroy and Germaine Luke and some volunteers, Andre and Ray, help bring a new refrigerator into their home. At the bottom on the stairs is Dennis Williams.
