Laura B. Crochet, LANO New Orleans

On August 28th, 2005, we had a cool city, an alive, vibrant city. Then the lights went out, and it was the Dark Ages here.

In St. Bernard Parish, 25 feet of water in rose in 23 minutes -- not even the length of a sitcom. Slab houses bobbed like ice cubes along the street and floated down 3 blocks. Months later, the house's curtains are still in the windows, dancing; kids’ papers are still on the refrigerator. Like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, I had to touch those houses, because I had a hard time believing that a house had been picked up and sat down like that.

The only reason the community is going to come back is that nonprofits, faith-based groups, schools, colleges, people like you, have come in.