Katina Parker was "living her life like it was golden" in sunny California - a visual artist based out of Los Angeles working with clients that included Hollywood's magical couple, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Saul Williams and Cody ChestnuTT.

Her work in film and magazine writing, directing and producing, graphic/web design and photography had garnered her numerous awards and accolades. And if that wasn't enough, she had been mentored by some of the most respected folks in the business, from poets like Maya Angelou and Sonia Sanchez to Emmy-Award winning documentarian Alan Berlin and the veteran director Peter Bonerz.


 

Katina Parker

So, when she found herself out in New Orleans in 2007 with a group of students to produce a podcast she intended to post to the web that would let people know the degree of anguish and despair that remained ever-present in those days following the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, her plan was to do what she could in the group's one-week stay, helping to rebuild homes, encourage broken spirits and to then return home. But sometimes, as she explained to this writer, "God has other plans for us and our lives." Today Parker is the executive director of New Orleans: A Labor Of Love , an organization she founded, that seeks to serve the needs of people while restoring dignity and hope to those affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav. And with a new website that will launch in the coming months and with an even more aggressive list of goals for 2009, Parker says there is no where else she would rather be than "down in the delta."

"We wanted to put something on the Internet to let folks know that volunteers were still needed [in New Orleans]," she said. "Media coverage had decreased about people trying to get their lives together - more coverage was dealing with corruption and graft. But that kind of information was intimidating for volunteers - even to us. We wanted to leave a love note to the world because what we immediately discovered was that the people needed us and appreciated us. What I wasn't prepared for was how quickly the project began to grow - it became this organic [force] that I couldn't stop." Parker says that at the time she believed that she might be able to develop the podcast into a film series but she wondered if the results would really be worth the effort. "Post-Katrina movies were being made and were effective - at least initially," she said. "But after one or two months following their release, people stopped paying attention to them. We realized that what we needed was something that was living and breathing. The new technologies that had appeared on the scene were perfect for our desire to build a social networking community that could live and breath. Right now, with the help of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) who donated their info tech think tank, we are about to launch the newest version of our website. The site will have space for people who want to organize trips and contribute resources for the Gulf Coast."

But is it possible that Parker is just imaging things? After all, Hurricane Katrina touched down 3 ½ years ago in late August of 2005. Despite then-President Bush's insensitivity and the general failure of government officials to heed the cries of the city's desperate citizens, life has surely gotten back to normal by now, hasn't it? Parker adamantly replies that for far too many, life in New Orleans since the storm is anything but "normal." "It's important to point out that there is a direct correlation between the number of volunteers who go to New Orleans and the kind of post-Katrina coverage that has been provided by the media," she said. "Right after the hurricane there were a lot of stories about folks on rooftops and various forms of social injustice that brought record numbers of donations [eventually 80 percent of the city flooded and it is estimated that at least 1,836 lost their lives with $81.2 billion dollars in damage - making it the costliest tropical cyclone in U.S. history] but then the coverage changed. "In some instances, there is a desire on the part of government officials and special interest groups to project things as being all fixed and I believe it's so they can attract tourist dollars and other kinds of funding. But there are still thousands of people with no homes and no insurance dollars whose needs have fallen by the wayside. And the reality is that people don't know they still have needs. Part of our work this year will be posting videos to the site and on YouTube where folks can tell their stories - they can say I was there last week and this is what is really going on."

Parker shared one story that she says motivated her to come up with a major, comprehensive approach and is illustrative of the changes that have occurred in her Labor of Love organization since its inception. "My students and I went to New Orleans to help rebuild a Habitat home for a woman who had several children," she said. "While we were working on the house, a man who was then 64-years-old, Mr. Dilbert, came by and asked us for help with his house. It was a duplex and it was pretty much in shambles. He had been hit by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which made his application process for help that much more complicated. But we really didn't have time to do much and while he wanted to try to save the place it was structurally unsound - it was too dangerous for us to really do anything." But that is not the end of the story. Parker's students decided to adopt Dilbert, finding a church group to help him and to provide him with furniture. What's more they assisted him with one particularly vital service - completing his home grant paper work. "I have a master's degree and the paper work was even complicated to me," she said. "He was in such dire shape that he just gave us his personal information and he didn't even know us. We were calling in prescriptions for his wife and had access to all of his records. And while we were glad to do it, he was an example of the kinds of people we met - vulnerable, elderly people - who were regularly being swindled by contractors and other mean-spirited folks."

According to Parker, because of this experience, she worked on establishing a sustainable program that would help senior citizens in the city. Later this year her organization will launch its elder assistance program that will enlist the volunteer services of students in the New Orleans area who are willing to commit five- to 10-hours a week - doing things from shopping to banking, cleaning or just providing that human need of touch. Look for part two of this fascinating story about how one woman's willingness to answer God's call continues to transform the lives of New Orleans men, women and children who have indeed been "touched by an angel."