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As Hurricane Gustav sweeps through the Gulf region, one thinks immediately of the horrible devastation and the pathetic response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In June, 2008 the Exchange team, led by Kay Albrecht and Luis Hernandez, traveled to New Orleans to offer a day of "Replenishing, Rebuilding, and Rejuvenating" for 400 early childhood professionals from the Gulf Coast region (a story of this "spa" day appears in the September 2008 issue of Exchange). While in New Orleans we had an opportunity to tour the city with local residents and see the terrible impact and the extreme lack of progress in rejuvenating this once great city.
The impact on the early childhood community was huge. Countless early childhood professionals were endangered and displaced. Prior to Katrina there were 275 child care centers operating in the city. Three years later, there are only 116. The cover story for the September issue of Exchange features one of the centers that rebuilt, Gilda's Academy. Read the story of Gilda and Warren Duplessis' effort to rebuild their lives and their work.
While we wait to find out how Gilda, Warren, and other early childhood professionals fared from Hurricane Gustav, please know that there is something we all can do to help. The early childhood community of the Gulf Coast region continues to need our support. Dedicated, passionate early childhood professionals face great challenges every day to serve the traumatized children and their families in this part of the United States. Messages of support and financial donations for the purchase of children’s books should be sent directly to:
For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.
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