As is often the case, many good things happen by accident.
Camp Restore New Orleans was formed in 2006 in response to Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures that followed. No one imagined where our work would lead us, even taking root over a thousand miles north of New Orleans in Detroit.
It isn’t a stretch to call Detroit the heart of the United States, and New Orleans our soul.
These two cities, bearing names that remind us of their French origins and more than 600 years of combined history, are now home to an effort by everyday Americans to restore faith, home and community in the Name of Jesus.
What began as hurricane relief has grown into efforts to address large-scale systemic challenges, such as restoring the wetlands that protect against hurricanes, supporting local schools and youth programs and helping new, innovative community nonprofits get off the ground. We achieve this through partnerships with more than 150 fellow nonprofits and churches.
Since 2006, over 30,000 volunteers from all 50 States, Puerto Rico and dozens of countries have called Camp Restore home. The results of their 1,000,000-plus hours of service are visible all around us, and not just in Detroit and New Orleans.