This program, perhaps more than any other, captures the spirit of Love Knows No Bounds’ view of what it means to assist an underserved community in their recovery from disaster.  Through becoming intimately connected with leaders and other residents of the communities we serve, we listen for what the community needs beyond home rebuilding and other services that would return the community to the way it was before the disaster.  We want to leave communities even stronger than they were prior to the disaster, as a way to empower the community to build capacity and leadership so that, should another catastrophe strike, they are in a stronger place to face it.

We believe, like the famous saying goes, that disaster carries within it a seed of tremendous opportunity to create something that that didn’t exist before.  For example, through the horrors of Katrina, new relationships have been built nationally and internationally between Katrina survivors and volunteers, relationships that have forever transformed lives on both sides of the service equation.

This is a new area of service for Love Knows No Bounds, and our first project is in the early planning stages.  Working in partnership with St. John #5, a powerhouse of social ministry in the 7th Ward of New Orleans, we intend to build a solar-powered community empowerment center that will feed the dreams and goals of the youth of the 7th Ward.  It will prevent crime, teach marketable skills, mentor young entrepreneurs, and assist students in completing their primary and secondary education.  The center will also feature meeting spaces to share ideas, build coalitions, inform the community, and create celebrations.  It will feature a community garden and will house a summer camp.  It will provide jobs and will be a model for sustainable building of community centers as it captures the incredible solar potential available in New Orleans.

Yes, our vision is big, but that is what the situation asks of us.  It is not enough to simply return people to their homes.  We have to create cornerstones of empowerment and wellness in order for the community to move forward and thrive.

Is your vision big like ours?  Want to help launch this amazing project?  You can create a legacy of strength and possibility for the youth of New Orleans that isn’t going to happen otherwise.

If you would like to make a significant investment in the community empowerment center, please call us at: (607) 239-7247.  We are looking to raise $100,000 this year for the first stage of development and we are looking for people interested in being “angel donors.”  We’d like to talk with you about how you would like to participate and we can recognize you as someone looking out for the future of New Orleans.  Wouldn’t you like to have your family or business name associated with something that will serve New Orleans’ youth for generations?

Please make the most generous donation to Love Knows No Bounds that you can today and give this vision some legs.