In 2010, New Orleans native and Dallas resident Lynette Norris Wilkinson promised to make a difference in the lives of Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Lower 9th Ward community where she grew up. On the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Wilkinson kept that promise. On Friday, August 28, 2015, she returned to the Lower 9th Ward to donate items on the wish lists of several community organizations helping residents recover from the devastation of Katrina. “The local organizations are the hands and feet in the community, working to make a difference every day,” says Wilkinson. Her “Go Back – Give Back” Blessings Tour took place August 28, 2015 in New Orleans.
Wilkinson, the author of the award-winning book, “UNTOLD: The New Orleans 9the Ward You Never Knew,” (www.HurricaneKatrinaStories.com) says the idea to write a book and donate the proceeds to organizations helping the residents recover is God-inspired. In addition to being an author, Wilkinson has enjoyed success as a business writer for Dun and Bradstreet, a technical writer, and a communications professional at Methodist Health System in Dallas. But she says, “Without my family, neighbors, teachers, and church, I would not be where I am today.”
The recipients are organizations filling critical needs in the Lower 9th Ward community. There’s the Headstart Center that promotes school readiness for 3- and 4-year olds. Another organization provides materials to help residents rebuild. There’s also the former veteran who invested his life savings to open the first full-service grocery store in the Lower 9 since Katrina.
UNTOLD tells the stories of 16 Katrina survivors ages 8 to 80 from the Lower 9th Ward. The book has been well-received, gaining several awards and receiving film credit in two National Geographic documentaries on floods and disasters. It is one of the few books that tell the true stories of Katrina survivors specifically from the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.
And it’s not too late to be a part of the Go Back – Give Back tour by purchasing a copy of UNTOLD.
Find out more about UNTOLD at www.HurricaneKatrinaStories.com.
@neworleanswrite #GoBackGiveBack