Louisiana is moving slowly on Katrina cottage building. Will it lose FEMA money because of it? CNN’s Sean Callebs reports.

A volunteer project in NOLA is a needed stress reliever during tough economic times. Anderson Cooper reports.

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more about the project and the situation in the region as Anderson reports live from New Orleans on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

The St. Bernard Project is a nonprofit organization in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, that helps people return to their homes that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

One house that is being rebuilt by the St. Bernard Project.

Kay Jones
AC360° Coordinating Editorial Producer

Is the economy hurting volunteerism? Not in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. I spent yesterday afternoon touring the business offices of the St. Bernard Project and was amazed at how much co-founders Liz McCartney and Zack Rosenburg have going on. Right now, they have 35 houses in some phase of rebuilding. By Wednesday, they will have completed their 200th home in this parish that was so devastated by Katrina.

When I talked to them about donations to the organization, they said while they can always use more, they haven’t seen any significant drop off in donations so far, and that is helping more and more families move back to the homes they love.

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University of Illinois senior Adriana Collazo removes tile from the floor of a home in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Christina Bellantoni
The Washington Times

President Obama’s aggressive approach to Gulf Coast recovery has allowed him to put a liberal policy stamp on the region and apply campaign promises to the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina – from green construction and environmental protection to invigorating urban centers and stressing volunteerism.

As the new administration rolls out more funding for New Orleans and shines a spotlight on bureaucratic backlogs delaying rebuilding, Gulf Coast residents note they are entering a new phase with different needs.

The piles of debris that college students on spring break could pitch in to clear are long gone, new bridges have been erected, and those who could afford to rebuild their homes have done so.

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Donna Brazile
CNN Contributor

There’s an old saying down in my hometown of New Orleans about how to tell the changing of the seasons. I’m not referring to winter, spring, summer or fall, but rather to the aroma of what someone’s cooking up fresh and delicious.

Shrimp, oysters, crabs, crayfish — those are our seasons. It’s all a cycle, and before we enter the Lenten season, we gather together to celebrate Mardi Gras.

The parades that began earlier this month won’t end until late Fat Tuesday, February 24. This Sunday most of us will come home soon after the Bacchus float rolls down Canal Street, to watch the 81st annual Oscars and root for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

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Whitehouse.gov

President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.

President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush Administration’s “unconscionable ineptitude” in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.

President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.

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The roof of the Lousiana Superdome, pictured on August 30, 2005, shows the scars of Hurricane Katrina.

The Times-Picayune Editorial Staff

Metro New Orleans residents will never forget the despair of those dark days after Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures flooded much of the region.

The wound of those memories is still raw just below the surface. Thus, President George W. Bush’s defense Monday of the federal response immediately after the storm stirs deep emotions.

In his last scheduled press conference, the president vigorously dismissed criticism of the government’s performance.

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Editor’s Note: Kate Barron is Oxfam America’s Louisiana Community Development Specialist. She has spent the past 2+ years working with residents of and groups assisting Terrebonne Parish, and also Plaquemines, Lafourche and Vermillion parishes, in its recovery from hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Hurricane Gustav has exacerbated an already bad situation for this area. Kate briefly evacuated to family in Baton Rouge, but is driving back into the affected parishes. She shares her experience in the storm here… both before, and after:

Kate Barron
Oxfam America Louisiana Community Development Specialist

BEFORE:

Last Friday night, August 29th, 2008 was three years to the day of Hurricane Katrina. And there I was, packing up my house, scrambling to whip up an evacuation plan to family in Baton Rouge: Gustav loomed on the horizon.

I work as the Louisiana field representative for Oxfam America, the international humanitarian aid agency, and have spent the past two and a half years in the rural coastal communities south and west of New Orleans as part of the long and heartbreakingly inconsistent recovery from Katrina and Rita. My role in Oxfam’s work is to link small, local non-profits who are renewing these very communities to resources and opportunities that sustain their good work and amplify their voice.

Prior to Hurricane Gustav making landfall in Cocodrie this weekend, one of the community groups that Oxfam’s Gulf Coast Recovery Program supported was Bayou Grace Community Services. As I headed back to Gustav’s ground zero, Terrebonne parish, the day after the storm I spoke with Courtney Howell, Bayou Grace’s now evacuated Executive Director who formed her organization when Hurricane Rita brought over 6 feet of water into her community, Chauvin. She has spent the past three years helping her area recover holistically, as well as to get more informed and involved in its own sustainability and wellness. Courtney is a Gulf Coast leader in the call for citizens to realize one very important thing: Those levees that the media couldn’t take its eyes off this week are a third line of defense.

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Kay Jones
AC360° Editorial Producer

A lot of you have been asking how Mr. Herbert Gettridge is.

I stopped by his house on Monday afternoon, and nobody was home, understandably. But the house was there with no water around it.

Also, cell phone service was down most of the day, and my calls to him still aren’t getting through.
Our entire staff is wondering how he is, so I have made it my mission to find out. Will let you know when I do.

Drew Griffin
CNN Investigative Correspondent

It has been dumping rain for three live shots now. My professional earpiece is no longer functioning. And during my last shot I used iPod plugs which caused water to get in my ear. Anderson sounded like he was underwater.

Between shots we try to dry out in the car. This is me and my producer Marcus Hooper (producers are always on phones).

Anyway, this is the glamorous world we live in, currently at the end of St. Bernard Parish and the Mississippi river.

Stay dry ya’ll.