It’s been over five years since Hurricane Katrina, but for many folks in New Orleans who still don’t have homes, it seems like forever. Sure it’s "old" news, but it's still raw and still in desperate need of support.  

More than 4,000 homes in the Lower 9th Ward were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When actor Brad Pitt toured the city, he was so angry to learn that the levee had been poorly built and not well maintained, causing the severe flooding, that he promised the families of the ward that he would help make it right.

Being a man of his word, Pitt founded the Make It Right Foundation which has pledged to build 150 affordable, green storm resistant homes for families living in the Lower 9th Ward. Pitt’s foundation commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, eco-friendly houses. The foundation is also helping to rebuild the community installing native landscaping, micro-farms, rain gardens and building new streets.

Today there are over 50 houses built, but 100 to go.  Now more than ever we need to all donate, give something specifically for a new home like a can of non-toxic paint, a solar panel, or seed plants for a community garden, or just buy t-shirts, bags and water bottles.

Personally, we would buy any shirt that Brad Pitt wears. Here is a guy that has gone out of his way to get involved, and has wrapped his big, perfectly chiseled arms around New Orleans and we should too.