Actor and activist Brad Pitt is not just paying lip service to the notion that we all have to chip in to help New Orleans rebuild after Katrina. He is putting 5 million dollars of his own money where his mouth is along with the help of some friends and foundations and they are hoping to fund the building of 150 new eco-friendly homes in the lower ninth ward of the recovering city. "We are starting with 150 homes and we are hoping we can go to every parish and spin this off and that this thing works." He has also said "The powers that be have taken their eyes off the ball" and that his organization which is called Make it Right is a grass roots effort to rebuild as much of the damaged city as it can raise the funds to finance. When asked about how he feels about New Orleans he said "It is one of our most unique cities. I find it to be absolutely authentic. They are their own thing. Its just a great vibrant community and i think it would be a real shame to lose that."
His organization has been calling on businesses, foundations, and corporations to sponsor the building of new homes and he is hoping to have families living in the first of these environmentally friendly solar powered houses by the summer of 2008. The original goal was to build 150 new homes but Mr. Pitt has said that they have actually been funded through the generosity of friends and individuals to the point where they can now project that they can build 225 new homes.
The response from individual people has been great but Brad Pitt has been surprised so far by the lack of a response he has gotten from corporations he has asked to join the effort. "The big response we have had is from individuals. We have had no response from corporations. We have had some answers from foundations but nothing from corporations or businesses which i thought would be our biggest pool." When asked just exactly what their response has been he replied "Just crickets you know, just a dead ear."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment