Wall Street Journal—Donor of the Day: Rebuilding New Orleans By Shelly Banjo
Leonard Riggio wants to help New Orleans residents replace a
story of disaster with renewal. This August, the founder and chairman of Barnes
& Noble Inc. and his wife, Louise, will build their 50th home for New
Orleans families who lost their homes after Hurricane Katrina. The couple
committed $20 million after the 2005 hurricane destroyed what the American Red
Cross estimated to be about 275,000 homes in New Orleans. . . . Again, by the
spring the couple look to build 100 energy-efficient, storm-resistant houses
for low and moderate-income New Orleans homeowners who have been unable to
rebuild and return to their homes. The project focuses on the Gentilly District
of the city, which was heavily damaged from flooding after the hurricane. Families
receive the homes at no cost but they must meet the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development guidelines for low-income families and be willing to swap
their damaged homes or vacant lots for the new home. "The homes are given
to working-class families, such as schoolteachers and civil-service workers,
who are crucial to the resurgence of New Orleans," Mr. Riggio says. Read the entire article.
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