During my time with working on a house, I stopped shortly to speak with the homeowner. During this conversation, I was deeply affected by her words. She spoke with my group and I and told us her story about Hurricane Katrina. She said words and phrases like “the end of the world,” and “family members missing” that I could not imagine having to deal with. Her son stayed at her house expecting it to be another routine Hurricane that rained for quite some time and had strong winds, but never impacted New Orleans enough for a full-out evacuation. Shortly into the Hurricane, he knew that it wasn’t like the ones that he was accustomed to and was forced to get onto his roof and spend the next few days on top of the roof in order to survive. Then she spoke about the power of love and how lucky she was to meet up with him. Because of the love that she had for her son, she was determined to find him and make sure that he was completely safe. After searching for him and her nephew, her hopes and dreams slightly came true after she met up with them and found out that they were alright and she could breathe a sigh of relief. Hearing her story has made such an impact on me that I am willing to spend my time working on this house just so that her family can be reunited and get back to the life that they were once accustomed to.
-Andrew Amadeo
