It seems as if every week, a new story on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is being told on tabloids and being reported on television. From the pair splitting, to adopting new children to jet-setting all over the world to fight for causes, news on the couple comes hard and fast, from the most salacious to the most mundane.
One story that seems to have slipped under the radar though, is perhaps the most incredible of all: Brad Pitt’s work with helping rebuild New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina touched down on the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Ultimately it would be one of the most devastating hurricanes of all time, leaving a death toll of nearly 2,000 and causing roughly $80 billion worth of property damage.
Over 80% of New Orleans and the surrounding regions were ultimately flooded by Katrina, with the Lower Ninth Ward (one of the poorest areas of the city, and the largest of the wards) being one of the hardest hit. Over 4,000 homes in the Lower Ninth alone were demolished by the storm, displacing countless families.
In 2007, Brad Pitt was touring New Orleans when he was shown the Lower Ninth Ward. Shocked by the lack of repairs and rebuilding of homes a full two years after Katrina, the actor decided to take things into his own hands to help the people of the devastated region.
With advice from former President Bill Clinton and with backing by the local government, Pitt established the Make It Right Foundation, an organization dedicated to rebuilding the homes of the Lower Ninth Ward and helping bring residents back to the area.
The Make It Right Foundation has been an absolute godsend to the people of the Lower Ninth Ward. Since it’s inception in 2007, Make It Right has built over 50 homes in the area, and has pledged to build at least another 100 more.
The homes that Pitt’s foundation have built are not just utilitarian in their design, but incorporate the ideas of some of the best and brightest in architecture today. As a result, the Lower Ninth, used to simple “shotgun” style homes as seen before Katrina, is now dotted with modern, green housing that is stylish, affordable and eco-friendly (some of the features in Pitt’s homes include rainwater collection systems, geothermal wells and solar panels).
Pitt himself is extremely proud of the fact that his housing has been able to give people a home that is good for them, and the environment. “[The Lower 9th is] the most high-performing clean neighborhood in the world, according to the Green Building council,” he said.
Pitt isn’t just raising money for the area, he also has moved with his family to NOLA (as the locals call the city), and absolutely loves it. “In New Orleans, the people are great,” the actor recently told the Times-Picayune. “We can just live and breathe and ride bikes. We can take our kids on bike rides, and local people just give us a shout out—and let us move on. It’s very free for us in New Orleans, very nice for us. It’s like Venice or Rome; an essential world city. So we feel honored to be involved with the community. Everybody treats us like neighbors.”
In total, the Make It Right Foundation has astoundingly raised over $40 million (including $5 million of Pitt’s own money) to help rebuild and repopulate the Lower Ninth Ward. It is clear that the organization is doing all they can to ensure that their mission statement, which states “our primary goal is to provide high-quality, energy-efficient housing to families in need, and to improve the development of communities in which they live,” is being followed.
Slowly but surely, the locals are returning to the Lower Ninth, and are happily trying to regain a normal semblance of life as they had it before the levees broke. “It’s a dream come true, seeing all this come back,” Kermit Ruffins, the famous New Orleans local singer and trumpet player, says of the rebuilding. “To see people back home, enjoying the neighborhood again. It’s a beautiful thing.”
All of us here at Positively Celebrity are extremely proud of Mr. Pitt and all that he has done for NOLA, and are looking forward to seeing the Lower Ninth being rebuilt bigger, better and greener than ever! For more information on the Make It Right Foundation, and to donate to the organization’s cause please visit www.makeitrightNOLA.org
Be sure to check back for more great inspirational stories from Richard Munassi right here at Positively Celebrity!
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