NEW ORLEANS–At Camp Hope in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity volunteers assemble daily and then issue forth to help rebuild hopes and dreams shattered by 2005's "Katrina" flood disaster. Teaming up with local grass roots organizations such as the Baptist Crossroads Project on a planned community dubbed "Musicians' Village", they have nearly completed thirty of a projected seventy-five new homes. Primarily intended for musicians who live in the New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward area, this project was conceived by Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. as a way to help local musicians displaced by Katrina.
Volunteers from across the country, across all spectrums of social and professional backgrounds have come at their own expense to assist the work for periods from a few days to weeks, and even months. Among those answering the call for assistance, veteran L.A. Tour Manager Tom Mooney (whose wife Ann was an SVP with Ticketmaster for 22 years and ran their ticketing operation in the S.F. Bay Area for several years) arrived with his 21-foot travel trailer and was quickly set to work with his tools, putting up siding and exterior trim.
Mooney noticed that Habitats' operations desperately needed a small serviceable P.A. for HQ use in dispatching personnel, for small assemblies, and for V.I.P. visits to the HQ & sites. Mentioning the need to friends, word got to Masque Sound's Jeff and Jim Shearing who put together a package of Apogee SSM's, a Crown amp and a Shure mixer to fill their needs.
Masque's gift was "from the heart," the Shearings' were reported as saying. Rock It Cargo president David Bernstein quickly green-lit Steve Maples efforts to arrange transport. Masque's gift (shown in photo) was immediately sent on its way to Habitat for Humanity in St. Bernard Parish, La.
Michael Hayes, special projects coordinator, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, shown in the picture with Tom Mooney, gratefully received the equipment on behalf of NOLA Habitat for Humanity for use at the Musicians Village and elsewhere.
For more info on Habitat for Humanity, visit www.habitat.org.
For more info on Masque Sound, visit www.masquesound.com.
For more info on Rock It Cargo, visit www.rockitcargo.com.
