Visions for Friends is a not-for-profit organization created to help those that need a helping hand to achieve their visions in life.  My name is Jay Gershman, founder of  Vision for Friends, an ever growing group of volunteers  with hopes of rebuilding homes in New Orleans.  Our goal simple; raise $100,000 to physically rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

HISTORY
Our story goes like this:  In September 2006, Harvard University students completed a study of one neighborhood in New Orleans nearly destroyed by Katrina.  The result was a systematic roadmap to repairing the 2,900 homes, schools and churches destroyed.  Unfortunately, the plan was unfunded.  The Broadmoor Improvement Association, an organization to assist the neighborhood’s homeowners with the daunting work of assessing damage and apply for assistance, stepped in.  With the help of the Annunciation Church, the Association moved into formal offices in 2006 and a church property was converted into dormitory-style housing for volunteers.  Today, the building can accommodate and feed up to 100 volunteers per day.

A PARTNERSHIP IS BORN
In January 2008 a partnership between Broadmoor and  Rebuilding Together was formed.  Rebuilding Together is a national not-for-profit organization with approximately 240 chapters.  Its charter is to rehabilitate homes for low income and elderly homeowners.  Rebuilding Together provides the construction assessment, material acquisition and the labor oversight needed for each project.

VISION FOR FRIENDS INVOLVEMENT
Today, Visions for Friends has chosen it’s first beneficiary, a 79-year-old retired Greyhound bus driver living in a FEMA trailer since the hurricane three years ago.  Our recipient uses a wheelchair which makes navigating a trailer extremely difficult.  Unfortunately, her insurance proceeds were used to pay off her mortgage.  To make matters worse, she paid contractors to repair her roof and replace faulty wiring, but the contractor skipped town without completing the job.