Just as the hurricane season started in Louisiana, a team of 19 real estate agents from Long Island and other parts of New York state landed there in a town called Slidell for a storm of rebuilding.
They spent the first six days of June helping to put up Habitat for Humanity homes in the reconstruction of the bayou town, which is 25 miles from New Orleans. It took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and was flooded by waters from Lake Ponchartrain just to the south.
But instead of a hurricane watch, volunteers were actually on the lookout for anyone on the edge of fainting from working under temperatures that reached 110 degrees. They drank 20 to 25 cups of Gatorade a day.
“It was so hot and we started work at 6 o’clock a.m. and it was like afternoon” temperatures, said Mohsen Zandieh, president of the Long Island Board of Realtors and one of four volunteers from the group.
The New York team finished . . .
one house, started working on the interior of another house and built the flooring for four other homes, said Mohsen, broker owner of Arash Real Estate in Little Neck.
Another New York volunteer, LIBOR spokeswoman Christina DeFalco, called the Habitat reconstruction program “amazing”. “Many have devoted a year of their life to come down and live on a stipend income and work with organizations such as NAR (National Association of Realtors) to rebuild homes for those in need,” she said. “Everyone involved in this project are truly devoted people, their hard work is inspiring and the enthusiasm contagious.”
Slidell was under water for 21 days, Mohsen said he found out, and many homes still remain frozen in the state that Katrina left them in.
“They have not been touched,” Mohsen said. “Many of the homes are damaged partially, and they have squatters there.”
As he coped with the heat, broken nail guns and accidents at the building site, Mohsen could feel his artificial identities melting away. He wasn’t a broker anymore or a president of an organization.
He was a human trying to make a difference, he said: “That was a magnificent feeling, doing it for the sake of doing something good.”
The trip was sponsored by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the New York State Association of Realtors and the Long Island Board of Realtors’ “We’re More Than REALTORS®” campaign.
--Ellen Yan