New Orleans: "We will box again"
Before: Volunteers spent five months renovating the 1932 gym that was flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
After: The gym is transformed into a multipurpose facility with a weight room, volleyball and basketball courts, locker rooms and more.
The newly-renovated park now has three new soccer fields, a jungle gym and a bike path.
As part of the grand opening festivities, OBI and City of Hope hosted a boxing exhibition match featuring local boxers.
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POSTED: June 15, 2007
By Sarah Pate
ST. BERNARD PARISH, La. - The message spray-painted in white letters across the doors of the gym was unwavering: "We will box again."
It was the rallying cry left behind by a local boxing coach shortly after Katrina's waters flooded the 1932 gym, named the Edward A. Kattengell Center, with more than 5 feet of water.
Now, after five months of intense renovations, the gym and adjoining community park is ready to celebrate its grand opening on June 16, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a community crawfish boil, games and a boxing exhibition match featuring local boxers.
"The kids have been coming around here, saying 'It's coming back! It's coming back'!" said Randy Millet, pastor of Adullam Christian Fellowship and director of City of Hope, a nonprofit arm of the church that will maintain and operate the newly-renovated facility and park.
"This place draws everybody like a magnet. It would have torn the heart out of a lot of people to have this place thrown out. To see it come back…everybody's excited about it," Millet said.
Operation Blessing spent about $300,000 to renovate the gym, transforming it into a multi-purpose facility for residents of all ages in the St. Bernard community. The new facility boasts a weight room, volleyball and basketball courts, locker rooms, concession stand, new sports equipment and more.
Outside, the park has been revamped with three new soccer fields, a jungle gym and a bike path.
"Soccer is a big thing down here," Millet added.
"We are very excited about the grand opening of the park," said Jody Herrington, director of U.S. disaster relief for Operation Blessing.
"Residents – young and old alike – continue to pour into the gym with tears in their eyes saying, 'I remember when I used to play basketball and box here.' This is a catalyst of hope for the community, which represents that they are coming back!" Herrington added.
Community rebuilding projects like this are part of Operation Blessing's large-scale Katrina recovery efforts, which include a free medical and dental clinic in New Orleans East that has provided free health care and medicine to more than 23,000 residents.
Earlier this year, OBI also launched "Rat Busters," a program to suppress a growing rodent population throughout the city. "Rat Busters" now operates alongside OBI's Bug Busters, a mosquito control program that has been treating abandoned pools and stagnant water sources with larvae-eating Gambusia fish since April 2006.
How You Can Help Be a part of OBI's ongoing disaster relief efforts by making an online donation to help those caught in the midst of disaster. For volunteer opportunities in New Orleans, click here.
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