Hurricane Katrina anniversary events, and more metro-area community news

The Louisiana Garden Club Federation has awarded a commendation to Linda Auld in recognition of the 35 years she has spent promoting the care and conservation of monarch butterflies.

Families for Families has received donation to provide rental relief. From left are Marjorianna Willman, director of the office of housing policy and community development for the City of New Orleans; Andy Kopplin of the Greater New Orleans Foundation; Vaughn Fauria of NewCorp; Andreanecia Morris of Housing NOLA; Joe Exnicios of Hancock Whitney; and Quentin Nesser of the New Orleans Business Alliance.

The Louisiana Garden Club Federation has awarded a commendation to Linda Auld in recognition of the 35 years she has spent promoting the care and conservation of monarch butterflies.

Families for Families has received donation to provide rental relief. From left are Marjorianna Willman, director of the office of housing policy and community development for the City of New Orleans; Andy Kopplin of the Greater New Orleans Foundation; Vaughn Fauria of NewCorp; Andreanecia Morris of Housing NOLA; Joe Exnicios of Hancock Whitney; and Quentin Nesser of the New Orleans Business Alliance.

KATRINA ANNIVERSARY: A healing ceremony and march marking the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina will be held Saturday afternoon, Aug. 29. The event is being organized by Hip Hop Caucus and the New Orleans Commemoration Foundation, with the goals of commemorating loved ones lost, celebrating resiliency, and demanding climate justice. The schedule includes:

KATRINA CLEAN UP: To mark the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Einstein Schools will host a community clean up in New Orleans East on Saturday, Aug. 29, from 8 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The clean-up will take place starting at 5316 Michoud Blvd. and continue along Michoud Boulevard and surrounding streets. Community members who would like to be participate should register at https://bit.ly/2PRU64g. Volunteers are required to wear a mask and practice social distancing. Light refreshments will be provided. 

HURRICANE HISTORY: Author Eric Jay Dolin will discuss his book « A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes » with University of Florida historian Jack E. Davis during a free Zoom event from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 31. To register for the free event, visit www.gardendistrictbookshop.com/event/2020-08. 

COVID-19 RENTAL ASSISTANCE: Families for Families is a housing assistance fund aimed at helping 4,000 families live through the COVID-19 pandemic without the fear of eviction by providing rental assistance for the year. The fund is operated by HousingNOLA, together with The City of New Orleans, NewCorp and Hancock Whitney. The program is based on a $200 to $1500 suggested monthly commitment provided by a donor, to ensure a needy family is housing-secure. For information, to become a donor family or to make a one-time donation, visit donorbox.org/housingnolaf4f or call (504) 326-1728.

ST. CLAUDE AVENUE BRIDGE REPAIRS: The left lanes of the St. Claude Avenue Bridge are closed to vehicular traffic (both directions) through November 2020. The work has been scheduled to coincide with the Army Corps of Engineers’ repairs of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock, which can only be performed while the Mississippi River is at low elevation and while the lock is closed to marine traffic. Also, the right lanes of the St. Claude Avenue Bridge will be closed periodically for short durations of no more than 15 minutes to ensure the safety of workers and motorists during certain bridge repair activities. No closures of the sidewalks or nearby bus stops are anticipated.

« SECRET NEW ORLEANS »: Historians Mark Aspiazu, James Corbyn and Angela Papke Aspiazu will hold a free virtual book discussion and happy hour for their book, « Secret New Orleans: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, » with Garden District Book Shop from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28. For information, visit www.gardendistrictbookshop.com/event. For a link to attend, visit www.facebook.com/GardenDistrictBookShop.

ORMOND DRAINAGE WORK COMPLETE: The St. Charles Parish Public Works Department recently completed the $9 million Dunleith Bank Stabilization Project that began construction in 2010. The project, approximately 1,300 linear feet at Linwood Drive and Dunleith Canal in Ormond, provides better access to maintain a critical drainage path and also stabilizes the canal banks near the Destrehan 1 and Destrehan 2 pump stations.

SHADY OAKS GARDEN CLUB: The Louisiana Garden Club Federation has awarded a commendation to Linda Auld in recognition of the 35 years she has spent promoting the care and conservation of monarch butterflies. Auld has installed monarch way station gardens throughout the area and has planted 33 butterfly-friendly gardens at schools. She is launching the Geaux Grow Natives, a program to promote growing Louisiana native plants including the monarch-preferred aquatic milkweed. Auld was nominated for the honor by the Shady Oaks Garden Club. 

LOUISIANA DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION: Bridget A. Dinvaut of St. John the Baptist Parish began another term on the board of directors of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association on Aug. 15. Dinvaut is district attorney for the 40th Judicial District of Louisiana. Other board members from the New Orleans area are 24th District assistant district attorney Norma DuBois of Jefferson Parish and Perry Nicosia of St. Bernard Parish, who is district attorney for the 34th District.

MARRERO NATIVE SERVES IN NAVY: Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Buhler, a native of Marrero, is serving aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is operating in the Atlantic Ocean. Buhler followed in his father’s and grandfather’s steps of Navy service. He is serving as boatswain’s mate working as a seaman and deck hand.

RETURN FROM DEPLOYMENT: Belle Chasse native Jacob Cooper returned home Aug. 9, marking the end of a seven-month deployment aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Since departing its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, in January 2020 for the ship’s composite training unit exercise, the aircraft carrier remained underway and deployed to the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Petty Officer 3rd Class Cooper is a logistics specialist, responsible for handling all depot level repairable items that aircraft need to complete missions. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the USS Eisenhower continued underway, minimizing the potential spread of the virus aboard. It, along with the USS San Jacinto, remained at sea with no port visits, setting a record for the U.S. Navy, breaking the previous record of 160 days set in 2002 by USS Theodore Roosevelt.

ONLINE AUTHOR TALK: Designer and antiques dealer Tara Shaw, of New Orleans, will discuss her book « Soul of the Home: Designing with Antiques » at 6 p.m. Sept. 3. To register for the free event, visit https://www.gardendistrictbookshop.com/event/2020-09. 

C.G. JUNG SOCIETY OF NEW ORLEANS: Deldon Anne McNeely will give an online presentation, “The Eternal Sophia and the Archetypal Shadow, » for the C.G. Jung Society of New Orleans at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8. To request a link, email [email protected].

HURRICANE KATRINA INVESTIGATION: Citizen investigator Sandy Rosenthal will discuss her book « Words Whispered in Water, » about the fight to expose a massive federal agency in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, during a Second Tuesday Zoom lecture at 6 p.m. Sept. 10. To register with the Friends of the Cabildo for the free event, email [email protected]. To purchase the book, visit www.1850housestore.com/products/words-whispered-in-water.

GREEN TECH MONTH: A series of five one-hour webinars on careers in the clean-energy industry will begin Sept. 10, presented by the Urban League of Louisiana, Energy Smart and the Louisiana Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. The scheduled topics are: 

VIRTUAL TUTORING IN READING: Registration is open through Sept. 7 for a free, nine-week virtual tutoring program that Start the Adventure in Reading will begin the week of Sept. 21. Each week, children will participate in a one-on-one 60-minute tutoring session to reinforce decoding, fluency and comprehension skills. To be eligible for the program, a child must be enrolled in second or third grade in a public or charter school. Additional resources such as prerecorded video lessons are included. To enroll, visit stairnola.org/register-a-child or call (504) 202-8187. 

PARKINSON’S SUPPORT GROUP: Dr. Khashayer Dashtipour, director of the division of movement disorders of Loma Linda University in California, will be the speaker when the Big Easy Fleur de Lis Parkinson’s Support Group meets on Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28. For login information, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/VLCC5GP. For information on the group, email Bonnie Huddleston at [email protected].

LONGUE VUE DANCE PERFORMANCE: The Mélange Dance Co. will present « HerStory, » an original performance celebrating women’s rights and power, at 5 p.m. Aug. 26 at Longue Vue House and Gardens, 7 Bamboo Road, New Orleans. The date is the centennial of the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920. To make a reservation for the outdoors performance, email [email protected].

NAACP: « Leadership in the New Frontier » will be the theme of the virtual Freedom Fund Banquet that the New Orleans branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will hold at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12. Tickets are $100, with special recognition for donors. For information, visit NAACP-NOLA.org or call (504) 434-8965.

19th AMENDMENT EXHIBIT: Through August, Longue Vue House and Gardens is presenting an open-air exploration of the history of voting rights in the 20th century, in honor of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted Aug. 26, 1920. Admission to the exhibit in the Whim House Colonnade is included with admission to the gardens. which is $8 for a self-guided garden tour. Longue Vue, 7 Bamboo Road, New Orleans, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. 

PEOPLE PROGRAM TEACHERS: The People Program nonprofit is seeking volunteers to teach seniors 50 years and older for the fall semester via Zoom. Volunteer teachers teach one day a week for one hour from their home or office for the 10-week semester, from Sept. 14 to Nov. 20. Topics are whatever the volunteer feels passionate about or has experience in. Recent topics included dance, art, literature, religion, cooking, exercise and book clubs. For information, call (504) 284-7678 or email [email protected].

A HISTORY OF RUM: New Orleans-based author Wayne Curtis will present a three-week Zoom adult history class, « And a Bottle of Rum: A History of Rum & A Look Forward, » beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9. The cost is $50, or $40 for members of the Friends of the Cabildo. 

SPIRITUALISM IN OLD NEW ORLEANS: Melissa Daggett will discuss her book « Spiritualism in Nineteenth Century New Orleans: The Life and Times of Henry Louis Rey » during a Second Thursday lecture at 6 p.m. Oct. 8. To register for the free event, email [email protected]. The book focuses on Le Cercle Harmonique, the francophone séance circle of Henry Louis Rey (1831-1894), a Creole of color who was a key civil rights activist, author, and Civil War and Reconstruction leader. His life has so far remained largely in the shadows of New Orleans history, partly due to a language barrier. To purchase the book, visit www.1850housestore.com/collections/book-collection/products/spiritualism-in-nineteenth-century-new-orleans.

SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com