Katrina's havoc leads to new collaboration to serve New Orleans poor

Published: 2007-08-28

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Presentation Sister Vera Butler knows all about Christianity in the trenches. With the help of colleagues and friends many years ago, she established a "Feed Jesus" program for the homeless and working poor out of a basement food pantry at St. Joseph Church in New Orleans. The lunch program developed just a few steps from the city's sprawling medical complex, the New Orleans business district and the Superdome, but in reality the pantry was the other side of the world. Then came Hurricane Katrina, which while hurting everyone in some way wreaked special devastation on the poor people Sister Vera loved and cared for. Katrina's destruction two years ago became the catalyst that made Sister Vera's longtime dream a reality. The Rebuild Center, a collaborative effort of the Presentation Sisters, the Vincentians, St. Joseph Church, the Jesuits, Immaculate Conception Church and the Hispanic Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, was dedicated Aug. 26. The new center will provide lunch, health screenings, showers, bathrooms, a laundry room, a large meeting room and 10 offices where clients can meet with staff and volunteers.

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