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Crystal ball foretells good future
Janis Kidder stands in the
lot where here home once stood with her special crystal
ball, her symbol of rebirth and moving on after Hurricane
Katrina.
Photo courtesy Toni Armstrong, Jr.
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She Mattered!
One small crystal ball that
touched the heart of a victim
By Chrystal Spokane, real
estate specialist, Louisiana Recovery Field Office
Real Estate was
recently tasked with contacting landowners who had an in-ground pool
at a home that was identified to be demolished. The LA-RFO offers
to pump out any water that remains in the pool and fill it in with
sand (at no cost to them) so that the pool is no longer a health and
safety hazard. It also preserves the pool from further deterioration
and enables re-use later.
Janis L. Kidder
owned a home located at 5417 Marigny in New Orleans. She was very
happy to know that this service was being offered, because she was
very concerned about the pool. Janis now lives in Florida and has
been unable to arrange fencing.
In the discussion
with the real estate team, she asked which company had demolished
her former home.
She stated that
she had visited the site prior to the demo and was unable to find or
recover any items from her home. After the demo, she visited the
site as a way to say good-bye and have a bit of closure.
During the site
visit, she noticed a crystal ball from her home tucked carefully in
a nearby tree. She could only guess that someone on the demo crew
came across the crystal ball and tucked it away hoping that the
homeowner would find it.
She was thrilled
and now keeps the crystal ball on her coffee table as a "memento"
from her Marigny home. She wanted to thank the crew who preformed
the work.
She has gone
through this ordeal by herself and when she found the crystal ball,
it gave her a nice feeling that someone realized she mattered.
Janis sent this
note with her photograph:
"It was devastating to come on that overcast
day to the desolate empty lot where my wonderful home used to be.
"At the end of our time there, just before
we were to leave, I saw the most incredible thing -- someone who'd
demolished the house had taken the time to put my crystal ball in
the fork of the front-yard tree. I was so touched by this kindness,
knowing the demolition crew was so overworked, and realizing someone
I would never even meet had taken the time to leave me something so
symbolic.
"Through the feelings of overwhelming loss
and sadness, I felt one of you had given me "my future" and I didn't
have to walk away empty handed. There are no thank-yous big enough."
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