Batavia benefit to aid New Orleans activist
Lori Holm was watching an amateur video after the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina when something caught her eye.
A message was spray-painted on the side of a house: "Help. Accepting donations" along with a phone number. She paused the video and called the number, and her friendship with Linda Jackson began.
This weekend, Holm will invite community members to join her cause in a fundraiser, "A Night to RE-New Orleans (one family at a time)," at the Albright Theatre in Batavia.
Jackson, who lived in one of the hardest-hit areas, the Lower Ninth Ward, still has not been able to move back in to her house -- more than two years later.
Taxes have been raised, and many people can't afford to come back and rebuild, Holm said.
But Jackson has become an activist in the area, watching out for her neighbors, pushing for property-owner rights, and helping run the Lower Ninth Ward Homeowners Association, Holm said.
Holm, a Batavia resident, has been talking with and sending items to Jackson over the past few months, and wants an opportunity to give back to a woman who has spent so much time helping her neighbors.
The money will go toward Jackson's home rebuilding fund.
Before Katrina, Holm had visited New Orleans annually for about seven years.
"I love the city," she said. "The music, the food, the eclectic feel -- everything. I just love it."
After Katrina hit in 2005, Holm and several friends felt they needed to do something to help. They solicited donations, loaded up two vans and drove to Mississippi to deliver them.
When she took that trip, word spread around the community and people kept coming to drop off donations, she said.
That's similar to the help she's gotten on this fundraiser, she said.
"I'm so proud of our communities," she said.
For the fundraiser, she wants to bring the eclectic feel of New Orleans to Batavia.
"I want to share with others why I love this city so much," she said.
The evening will start with work by Batavia artists Rosalie Waranius Vass and Hans Kaiser. Then Batavia High School students will perform, playing jazz.
Next is a tap dancing performance from the First Street Dance Studio of Geneva; the evening will close with "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion," a one-act play by Tennessee Williams.
The play stars Jennifer Reeves-Wilson of Chicago, Jannette Spinks of Elgin and Curt Welsh of St. Charles.
Other cast members are: John Quirk and Erin Cauley of Elgin; John Dryden, Matt Holm and Axel Holm of Batavia; Mark Rowe of St. Charles; and Dan Vogel of Aurora.
If you go
What: "A Night to RE-New Orleans," including art, music, dance and a one-act play
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albright Theatre, 100 N. Island Ave., third floor
Cost: $20
For reservations: Call (630) 406-8838, option 1