Ms. Delores Carter

Neighborhood: Broadmoor
Architecture Style: Shotgun

Whether it’s rain or shine, Ms. Delores, 62, can be seen walking a block or two to the bus stop from her sister’s Louisiana Ave. home, and then riding on the local bus for 10 miles to get to her job as a food service member at Wendy’s in Metairie, LA. Despite her daily trek, Ms. Delores maintains high spirits and says, “I’m just glad I have a job. Two dollars is better than no dollars.”

Even, an innocent bystander noticed her tremendous work ethic, commenting, “Ms. Delores, you caught the bus all the way out here?” However, to those closest to Ms. Delores, her resilience is not surprising; through her tireless work ethic, she outlasted “everyone before and after her.”

Growing up in the Calliope projects, Ms. Delores moved to her current Broadmoor home on Delachaise St. in 1963 with her parents. As a young girl, Ms. Delores enjoyed roller skating and riding her bike at the neighborhood playground, where she and her friends would play games like “pop the whip.” When Ms. Delores inherited her family home in 1973, she was elated at the opportunity to continue her father’s legacy of being a homeowner.

After many years of building memories in her family home, Ms. Delores was forced to flee her Broadmoor home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Even though Ms. Delores thought she would only be at the Superdome for a couple of days, she spent the next five days in Superdome, moving around to avoid the water leaking from the roof. Eventually, Ms. Delores met a family also at the Superdome, and was airlifted with them to Houston. During her displacement in the aftermath of Katrina, she stayed in countless cities – Dallas, Chicago, Nashville, and Columbus, GA just to name a few. Despite her constant relocation, Ms. Delores maintained an optimistic attitude, a true testament to her faith, saying, “There is no point in getting stressed over things you can’t control.”

Even though she traveled to various places throughout the country, Ms. Delores always believed that there is no place like home and said, “You can go home when you can’t go anywhere else, but I knew it was going to take some time.” After Ms. Delores resided in Columbus, GA with her sister for two years, she was eager to return to her childhood home in the Broodmoor neighborhood, where she lived for over two decades. Upon returning to the City of New Orleans in February 2008, Ms. Delores realized the majority of her neighbors left and never returned and said, “Many people in New Orleans really wanted to come back home, but they couldn’t because the cost of living was so expensive.”

Due to financial restrictions, Ms. Delores was not able to rebuild her home right away. Anxious to revitalize her neighborhood and return her home to its previous state, Ms. Delores immediately contacted the Broadmoor Development Corporation who immediately referred her to Rebuilding Together New Orleans for assistance in completely rehabilitating her home. In February 2011, Rebuilding Together New Orleans opened Ms. Delores’ 4-bedroom double shotgun and will complete renovations in early 2012 to restore the normalcy that’s been missing for over three years.

Despite the challenges of returning to her Broadmoor home, Ms. Delores has always remained hopeful for the future of New Orleans and says, “They always said New Orleans wouldn’t come back as the city it once was … And, they can believe that if they want, but New Orleans is the greatest city in the world.”