AIA Component Leaders, Reed Construction Data, Hanley Wood Volunteers Help Rebuild Homes in New Orleans
17 May, 2011

Eighty architects and other design, building, and contracting professionals spent the day on Wednesday helping to restore five damaged houses in the 9th Ward of New Orleans in a service project to help elderly and disabled residents still displaced by Hurricane Katrina return to safer and more secure homes.

The May 11 volunteer effort included architects from thirteen states, recruited by the AIA Council of Architectural Component Executives (CACE), working with volunteers from Reed Construction Data (RCD), and Hanley Wood. The community service project was organized by New Orleans Operation Helping Hands, a 501(c) (3) organization that provides residential construction-based services, labor, and materials to damaged New Orleans homes using volunteer professionals from the architecture, manufacturing and contracting industries. Since November 2005, Operation Helping Hands has brought on more than 25,000 volunteers to gut and rebuild homes devastated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s been almost six years since storm surges devastated neighborhoods and destroyed 300,000 homes,” said AIA CACE 2011 President Mike Waldinger. “We’re honored to have the chance to support residents who are still on the road to recovery. Members of CACE from around the country connect architects to better regional and urban design back home, so it’s a natural extension of our efforts to join industry partners who want to help make a difference rebuilding in the convention city.”

“The strength and resilience demonstrated by the community and people of New Orleans has been astonishing,” said Steve Ritchie, vice president of marketing and business development at Reed Construction Data. “In the wake of the city’s progression towards rebuilding, we are honored to serve in helping to restore the community.”

AEC Cares project NOLA, as the May 11 volunteer service project is known, will directly improve the lives of the displaced homeowners, all of whom are elderly and disabled, and some of whom have had challenging experiences with building contractors in the past. Designed to enhance the safety and security of the five homes, volunteers lent their time installing siding, drywall, and tile, as well as painting and paving. Materials, volunteer meals, transportation, and other costs of the service project were underwritten by seven corporate sponsors: Old Castle, Hunter Douglas, PGT, MAPEI, The Vinyl Institute, Blue Wolf, and Naylor LLC.

By Mike Singer