Can-Do Spirit in New Orleans
Earnest Hammond started collecting cans to sell after Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post
NEW ORLEANS--Down a street of homes with plywood patches, in a bedroom of a house that was once a home, sits Ernest Hammond’s hurricane recovery plan.
Cans. Thousands of them. Soda cans and beer cans. Cans piled on the floor and cans squeezed into large plastic bags. Cans that have been crushed and cans that will soon be.
“I do them like this,” said Hammond, 70. He lined up a few cans on the floor, grabbed a sledgehammer and let it drop, crushing the cans one-by-one until all that remained was a pile of small disks. “That’s all you do. Yes, indeed.”
After Hurricane Katrina destroyed the house where Hammond lived for 37 years, he was determined to rebuild, even if he had to do it one can at a time. What he didn’t count on was the recession crushing his profits, pillaging the piles he had gathered and stored in two water-ravaged rooms. Aluminum prices have plunged, leaving Hammond with cans that lost their value by more than half in a year.
Earnest Hammond has watched the price of aluminum drop amid the recession, cutting into the profit he could have made from the thousands of cans he's collected. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post
“Last year, I could get 85 cents a pound for them,” Hammond said. “Now they’re 33 cents a pound. Some places, even 25 cents.
“I don’t want to sell them at this price,” he added.
For 29 years, Hammond worked as a truck driver. He moved into the house in the seventh ward in 1963, renting it for 11 years before saving enough to buy it. When Katrina hit, he said, the water wiped out everything he owned and pushed him to seek refuge in the attic. A small hole remains outside the house where he used an ax and hammer to hack his way out.
Earnest Hammond points to the hole he made using and ax and a hammer to escape his house after Katrina. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post
“I done worked and got it all together and the storm came and wiped it out,” Hammond said. “Ain’t nothing you can do about it.”
Except Hammond did do something. Before nonprofit workers discovered him six weeks ago and offered to help him rebuild, he spent his days collecting cans and his nights gardening. With pride, he showed Michael and me the papaya trees that now tower in his front yard. In another part of the yard, banana peppers peek out from a tangle of vegetation.
Hammond said the food from the garden was to fill his belly and the money from the cans was to fill his pockets, at least a little bit.
“You got to do something,” he said. “You can’t just sit around.”
Hammond has lived in a FEMA trailer in his front yard for three years. He said a family who used to rent part of the house from him never came back. Toys and children's clothes remain in a closet. Family photos, ruined by water, adorn a wall. In a room he used to rent out, two new mattresses lean against a wall, wrapped in plastic. Hammond bought them for when he finally moves back into his house.
A wedding picture hangs on a wall among rows of ruined family photos. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post
“All I want to do is get back in there” he said. “Yes, indeed.”
The house remains gutted and mold is still being removed, but Hammond said progress is coming much quicker than if he had to rely solely on the cans, especially now that their value has dropped
“That’s the only plan I had,” he said. “It was going to take me some years. But I was going to get there.”
"All I want to do is get back in there," Earnest Hammond said about his house, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post
By
Theresa Vargas
|
July 8, 2009; 1:27 PM ET
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Posted by: apissedant | July 8, 2009 2:31 PM | Report abuse
Good story and good for him. With his can-do spirit. he will get the help he needs and get on with rebuilding his home and his life. He had it right when he said you can't just sit around and do nothing, waiting on "someone" to do something. Keep up posted on his progress-maybe next time his house will be habitable and he'll be sitting on the porch opr steps, reflecting back on these times.
Posted by: Bfeely600 | July 8, 2009 2:54 PM | Report abuse
How to contact him so that we can help him a bit.
Posted by: infiniumphoto | July 8, 2009 2:59 PM | Report abuse
This gentleman is 70 years old and should not have to live like this. Whenever I read about people trying to rebuild from Katrina I get upset to think that in this country people are still suffering - especially those who are trying so hard.
Sometimes it makes me so ashamed of how we treat the elderly and poor but then I read the comments of those who want to help and my heart is filled. I have always given and continue to give (monetarily, volunteering, clothing/furniture donations) - but I also keep thinking about how much I waste. I'm doing better :).
Posted by: rlj1 | July 8, 2009 3:13 PM | Report abuse
How to contact him so that we can help him a bit.
======================
Try:
Times-Picayune Newspaper
3800 Howard Ave
New Orleans, LA 70125-1429
(504) 826-3000
or
NOLA.COM
Posted by: amercrutio100 | July 8, 2009 3:30 PM | Report abuse
We also plan to send something to help Mr. Hammond out a little.
While I don't feel it would be appropriate to post Mr. Hammond's address online for privacy purposes, I can say the following:
Using the picture of Mr. Hammond in front of his house to obtain the street number and his age from the article, I used Lexis Nexis to figure out his address.
For those of you who don't have Lexis access, you can use whitepages.com.
There is only one Earnest Hammond listed in New Orleans, and the street number in the photo matches the address you find using whitepages.com.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Anonymous59 | July 8, 2009 5:24 PM | Report abuse
It would also be helpful for people planning vacations, etc. to strongly consider New Orleans as a destination. While this wouldn't help Mr. Hammond directly, the more revenue the city can generate, the more good can be done for Mr. Hammond and the city generally.
I know of several people who have said they didn't want to go to New Orleans because they felt guilty about "living it up" in a tourist area while so much of the city is still in dire straits, but the fact is, tourism has long been and is still one of the major industries in the city, and every extra dollar helps. Once again, I'd urge both companies and individuals scheduling conferences or other events to give New Orleans a serious look.
The outpouring of support from people around the country (as opposed to FEMA) in the aftermath of Katrina was nothing short of inspiring, but the city still needs economic support, and staging an event there is a pretty cost-effective and extremely enjoyable way of providing that support.
Posted by: mrmxyzptlk1 | July 8, 2009 8:53 PM | Report abuse
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I wish I wasn't broke and a new father. This is the second time I've read about this guy in the past year. Last time was when the FEMA trailers were set to be sold out from under the occupants. I'm not sure why FEMA doesn't help him, and I wish I had the resources so that I could. This guy seems like a hardworking man that deserves a break.