The N.Y.-based humanitarian ministry also helped support the re-launching of Special Olympics of Louisiana to help young athletes with disabilities in the area to participate in Special Olympics competitions.
It also provided a grant to Boat People SOS - a national organization helping vulnerable Vietnamese and Southeast Asian refugees throughout the country - begin a new Asian Youth Empowerment Project in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Habitat for Habitat - with the help of some 70,000 volunteers - reports having built or in the process of building more than 1,100 homes in the Gulf Coast Recovery Program in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.
A CWS-Habitat $4 million partnership has allowed long-term recovery groups along the Gulf Coast to apply for grants of up to $10,000 to help families repair their homes. By spring 2008, the grant will have helped repair 645 homes.
The continual help from churches and Christian organizations is essential, given the drastic drop in donations for rebuilding of affected areas after Katrina.
The Giving USA Foundation records a drop from $7.4 billion in 2005 to $1.2 billion in 2006. The costliest hurricane in U.S. history caused approximately more than $75 billion in damages.
"People think it's over," said Ellenor Simoons of Crescent Alliance Recovery Effort, according to CWS. "The biggest barrier to recovery is most people have put this behind them in other places around the country."
Operation Blessing, realizing that the disaster was far from over, responded by expanding its medical and dental clinics in New Orleans East since April 3, 2006. The facilities provide free health care and prescription medicine to thousands of residents.
To date, both medical and dental clinics combined have treated more than 28,000 patients and filled nearly 68,000 prescriptions.
OBI was helped by another disaster response Christian ministry, The Salvation Army, which awarded OBI $1.8 million in June 2006 to help with prescription medicine for Katrina victims over the next 12 months.
The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center estimates that 66 percent of the city's population has returned.
Churches in New Orleans were scheduled to hold memorial services on Wednesday, including one at the historic St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. A candlelight vigil was scheduled in Jackson Square at dusk.
