Cameron Wright
Google+ welcomed Brad Pitt to his first social network. I have been a fan of Brad Pitt’s for a long time. My appreciation for Mr Pitt grew significantly while I was living in New Orleans doing recovery work after Hurricane Katrina. Brad Pitt has been extremely active in the continuing recovery in New Orleans. He co-founded Make It Right.
His first post was focused on “A Night to Make it Right Gala” happening on March 10th 2012 at the Regency Hyatt Hotel in New Orleans. Ellen DeGeneres and Brad Pitt will host the Gala. Dr John (one of my favorites), Rhianna, Sheryl Crow, and Seal will all be performing. The charity gala will raise funds to build sustainable, affordable homes for New Orleans’ families who lost everything to Hurricane Katrina and promote Make It Right’s work to provide sustainable housing in Newark, NJ and Kansas City, MO for disabled veterans and disadvantaged communities.
A brief history of Make It Right:
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the City of New Orleans and killed 1,577 people. Hardest hit was the Lower 9th Ward where more than 4,000 homes were destroyed by the storm and the surge of water caused by the breach of the Industrial Canal levee.
Two years later after Katrina when actor Brad Pitt toured the city, no progress had been made in the Lower 9th Ward. Still, the community was determined to rebuild. After meeting with local families, Pitt established Make It Right to build 150 green, affordable, high-quality design homes in the neighborhood closest to the levee breach.
Make It Right kicked off in December 2007 with the Pink Project – an art installation designed to bring attention to the challenges and possibilities of rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward. The Pink Project raised 12 million dollars.
21 local, national and international architects donated designs for single family and duplexes to Make It Right. Today, Make It Right has built 75 sustainable, LEED Platinum certified homes for Lower 9th Ward families. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, Make It Right is the “largest and greenest community of single-family homes in the world.”
Make It Right Timeline
Incorporated: August 2007
Announced: September 2007 (Clinton Global Initiative)
Launched: December 2007 (Pink Project)
Groundbreaking: March 2008
Construction began: June 2008
First six homes completed: August 2008
First 50 homes completed: December 2010
First 75 homes completed: May 2011
Source: Hollywood Reporter Further Reading: http://www.makeitrightnola.org/ http://www.nighttomakeitright.com/
The Nibletz team will be in New Orleans the following week and we will try to bring you some coverage from the Gala. New Orleans is my adopted “home city” and the story is still being written regarding the recovery.
