"If I had a plan, I wouldn't be where I am now." 

Liz won the CNN Hero of the year this past Thursday. I was fortunate enough to interview her and hear her story of the life transition that took Liz and her husband Zack from a comfortable one in Washington, D.C., to the one they live today, helping the displaced people of New Orleans. This story originally ran in October. Hope you'll like it again. And watch the CNN Special. 

Congratulations, Liz! 

by Mike Kravinsky

After the hurricane and flooding, the couple went to help the people of the Gulf Coast. At first, they served meals and helped out in whatever way they could.

But the stories of loss of lives and property from the people there moved them to make a radical change in their life plans. "What ultimately changed my path for me was meeting people down here." say Liz, "Just meeting a  lot of good, home owning, tax paying, hardworking Americans.  For the first time in their lives these people  really didn't have a plan and needed help."

They gave up their jobs and moved to New Orleans. "We knew we were going to be down here full time. I think there was some question as to what we were going to do", says Liz.

Liz and Zack until then had resided in Washington, D.C., Zack a lawyer and Liz, working at a non-profit, lived comfortable lives. But after 2 weeks spent helping the proud working class people of St. Bernard Parish, they were moved to give up the business suits, quiet offices, golf on the weekend and a Capitol Hill apartment for t-shirts, shorts and living in a  "shotgun" shack. As Liz and Zack met more St. Bernard Parish residents, it became obvious that the these people were overwhelmed by their circumstances , "it was the first time they needed help, the first time they were on the recieving side of the equation. "

Not knowing how to help at first, they decided that they would reconstruct homes that were damaged during Katrina. Problem was they really didn't know how to do construction. Oh, they tried. Learning from construction people that remained in the area. But, if you ask the locals, picking up a hammer was not where their skill lay. Liz admits, "I was just grossly unprepared for how challenging it can be to work in a disaster area." 

What they did was form a non profit organization, The St. Bernard Project, that raised money, and attracted volunteers to help in the rebuilding process. "In some ways we could apply things that we learned in  our previous jobs, in other ways it was many many new skill sets."  McCartney used her grant writing skills from her nonprofit life, to write applications for funding. They began traveling around the country to try and sell their idea. At first it was just Liz, Zack and 3 volunteers. But throughout the summer of 2006 the organization started to grow. "It was like that shampoo commercial, I told 2 friends, and they told 2 friends, and so on..." 

Their hard work has paid off. Over the years the organization has grown. It now has a budget of $2.7 million from donations and a full time staff of 32 people along with 150 to as many as 500 volunteers per week. As people return and their lives get back to normal, they come to the St. Bernard Project to help their neighbors. The St. Bernard Project has been hailed as a model of how a non-profit should work.

The project has rebuilt 145 homes. They can turn a shell into a finished home in about 12 weeks for about $12,000. 

Liz praises her family and friends.  "I'm pretty lucky", she says, "When we first told our families that we were coming down here, they were very supportive."   She especially enjoys telling the story of her father an architect, and his reaction to their decision. When they first moved to New Orleans, he came down around 6 times. "He was our cheerleader, go out and get 'em." says Liz,  "It wasn't until around 6 or 8 months ago my dad said, you know I'm really proud of you guys, I didn't think this was going to work for the longest time, but I had to be supportive."

Liz has said she would like to remain in New Orleans after the work is done and they aren't receiving any more applications for help. "I love New Orleans, and would love to be here forever." The experience has changed her perspective on how she lives her life, "I've given up any hopes of planning my life. There is no point in trying plan or predict what's next. If I had a plan and really adheared to it and stuck to it, I wouldn't be where I am right now."

You can see more about the St. Bernard Project at their web site  www.stbernardproject.org.