Project Rebuild Plaquemines Project Information

Plaquemines Parks Project

After much debate, our board, with the approval of Plaquemines Parish Government, has decided on our major project to support the recovery effort and the people of Plaquemines Parish – the Plaquemines Parks Project. The Plaquemines Parks Project consists of the redevelopment of public parks in the following towns: Belle Chasse, Boothville-Venice, Buras, Davant, and Port Sulphur. Each park will contain a walking track, shelters, barbeque pits, picnic tables, benches and play equipment for all age groups. Each park has an additional play element that makes it unique as follows:

Boothville-Venice – Skate Park
Buras – Water Park
Davant – Outdoor Ampitheatre
Port Sulphur – Basketball
Belle Chasse – Beach Volleyball

We began the design process with University of Colorado landscape architecture students that helped us gain community consensus as to needs and wants at the park sites. This effort was supported by the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation and was invaluable to us by giving us community feedback and design ideas for the park sites. The park construction plans have been designed and developed by Roy T. Dufreche and Associates. The contractor for the sites is T. Dale Smith Construction Company. Please see the Parks link for the status of the construction efforts at each site.

Past Activities

It has been extremely difficult to research the past and remember every single business, church, organization and person that supported these efforts. Not everyone is listed here, many of these events were organized by committees of dedicated citizens of Plaquemines. We apologize in advance to anyone we failed to recognize. Please contact us to correct any oversight so that we can give credit where it is due. To all of you who were there for us, providing time, money, goods, services and prayers - we humbly thank you for reaching out to your fellow citizens in this time of greatest need.

2005-2006 EVENTS

We supported, co-sponsored and helped organize several community recovery events:

The Family Affair Celebration was held at Cypress Park in Belle Chasse on October 29, 2005. This celebration was free to all Plaquemines residents and consisted of free food and music to celebrate the re-establishment of Plaquemines Parish. At this point in the recovery effort almost all news had been grim and everyone was suffering under the physical and emotional burdens of the recovery in varying degrees. Parish leaders decided it was time for people to take a break and remember what it was like to smile and visit with friends and family.
The Diamond Park Health Fair was held on May 20, 2006 in the FEMA temporary housing site located in Diamond Park. The fair offered free food, music, t-shirts, games for the kids, information on the recovery effort by the parish, Louisiana Spirit unmet needs counselors, health screenings, information on stress management and mental health, vaccinations, HIV testing, Glucose screenings, blood pressure screenings and other various medical booths that provided health information to all residents. Sponsors and organizers of the event were Project Rebuild Plaquemines, Plaquemines Parish Government, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, United Way, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and Hands of Hope. Other participants were the New Orleans Office of Mental Health, Severn-Trent Environmental Services, Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, VA Medical Center, 4-H Youth Development, Partnership for Prescription Assistance, the United Methodist Church of Belle Chasse, the New Living Way church, the Crossroads Youth Ministry, the Knight’s of Columbus, PrintAll, the Lion’s Club and many more.
The Davant Health Fair was held on September 9, 2006 at the Davant Park adjacent to the Percy Griffin, Jr. Memorial Community Center and home of the second largest FEMA temporary housing site in Plaquemines Parish. The Davant Health Fair was a similar to the Diamond health fair with health information, free food, music, youth activities and t-shirts to all residents. A generous man showed up at this event and gave away home kits to residents of the park and neighboring community. Sponsors of this event were Hands of Hope, the American Red Cross, Emergency Communities, Crossroads Youth Ministry and Project Rebuild Plaquemines.
“The Importance of Energy Production and Infrastructure in Plaquemines Parish” was prepared by David Dismukes, Seth Cureington and Elizabeth Oleks of the L.S.U. Center for Energy Studies and was used by parish officials in Congressional Hearing testimony regarding the importance of Plaquemines Parish to the nation. The study was proposed by the Plaquemines Association of Business and Industry, supported by the Plaquemines Parish President’s Office and fully funded by Project Rebuild Plaquemines. The study was presented on June 14, 2006 to Plaquemines Parish Government and the P.A.B.I. General Membership Meeting. Click here for the actual study.
Hurricane Katrina Anniversary events were held on August 27 and 29, 2006 at the Belle Chasse High School Auditorium and in Buras, LA at Ground Zero. Plaquemines Parish Government was the sponsor of these events but Project Rebuild Plaquemines offered organizational assistance and financial support so that these events could offer food and drinks free to the public. Domino’s Pizza donated pizza and drinks to the Bell Ringing Event co-sponsored with Plaquemines Parish Government and WWL Channel 4.
The Grand Re-Opening of the Riverbend Senior Center in Belle Chasse occurred on August 28, 2006. After Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Plaquemines Parish, the ensuing days of recovery made it clear that animals were being rescued from all over the parish and there was nowhere to keep them until they could be adopted or returned to their owners. The difficult decision was made to use the Riverbend Senior Center in Belle Chasse as the temporary animal shelter. Hundreds of pets were saved from starvation and sickness by brave and dedicated volunteers. After the shelter had served its purpose and was closed, people from the City of Calabasas, CA came to Plaquemines with the goal of assisting in the recovery effort. They selected the Riverbend Senior Center as their project as it was now empty but damaged from the pet rescue effort. The Spirit of Calabasas designed and fully funded a complete overhaul of the building; including furniture, and decorations. On August 28, 2006 the Riverbend Senior Center had a grand opening celebration sponsored by Plaquemines Parish Government and Project Rebuild Plaquemines. Dignitaries from the City of Calabasas were in attendance as well as a throng of happy senior citizens. The event was a wonderful celebration of a small part of the recovery of Plaquemines Parish. We will forever be grateful to the City of Calabasas for their initiative, compassion and generosity.
Employee Appreciation Day held at the Belle Chasse Auditorium on September 16, 2006. This celebration was co-hosted with Plaquemines Parish Government to show gratitude to parish workers who had worked selflessly, separated from family, to help recover Plaquemines Parish sewer systems, water systems, solid waste collection and drainage systems; and also to facilitate debris removal, street cleaning, levee breech repair, and many other tasks. The event consisted of food, entertainment and door prizes as well as the distribution of plaques and awards to those who had sacrificed so much and worked so hard to bring Plaquemines back to its citizens. Many companies donated to this event to make sure it was a success for the parish workers.

2007 EVENTS

The Diamond Temporary Community Center was established on January 29, 2007 at Diamond Park. The trailer had been delivered at the site but getting necessary utilities so that the trailer could be occupied was a challenge. Plaquemines Parish Government and Severn Trent provided water and sewer connections. We assisted, along with Plaquemines Parish Government, in the establishment electricity to the double-wide trailer so that it could be put into use for the residents of the park. The site was the temporary community center for events sponsored by YMCA, Save the Children, Take Off (a basketball program), Emergency Communities and other organizations involved at Diamond.
The Diamond Playground Rebuild was achieved through the organizational efforts of Project Rebuild Plaquemines, Save the Children, KaBOOM!, Plaquemines Parish Government and others. In 2007 Project Rebuild Plaquemines funded and partnered with KaBOOM! to rebuild the playground in Diamond, Louisiana, the site of the parish’s largest FEMA transitional housing site (over 450 travel trailers). In the aftermath of Katrina, the previous playground was completely submerged underwater and later deemed not safe. The playground was a partnership between Project Rebuild Plaquemines, Save the Children and the Plaquemines Parish Government. While the majority of the park was funded by Project Rebuild Plaquemines, Save the Children provided build day assistance and financial support for the project through a UNICEF grant that allowed us to make the park handicap accessible. The playground build day was on April 24, 2007. Volunteers came from near and far to support the effort. Some came to help in the construction, others provided food and drinks to the workers, some worked on activities with the children of the community and still more provided support services for the activities of the day. Following is a list of some of the groups involved in the effort: Belle Chasse Naval Air Station, AmeriCorps, South Plaquemines High School, ConocoPhillips, the Red Cross, Leon Duplessis and Sons, Plaquemines Parish Orange Queen Ashley Johnson (and supporters), Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Communities, Port Sulphur 4-H Club and Fremin’s IGA.