Hornets Visit Three Evacuation Shelters
 Click the above photo to view a special photo gallery of this visit. |
"This is just the beginning of our commitment to provide relief to our family, friends and fans who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina," said Shinn. "New Orleans is our home, and we are focused on helping to rebuild and revitalize our great city."
Louisiana natives PJ Brown and Brandon Bass joined J.R. Smith, Chris Paul, Chris Andersen and David West on the tour of the three shelters.
"You can replace houses. You can't replace people. I mean, it's left me speechless," Paul said in the Times-Picayune regarding the storm's impact on the Gulf Coast Region. "I was talking to P.J. about it. When the storm hit, I just kept it on CNN and watched the whole thing. Just seeing Canal Street, knowing I was there just a few days before storm and seeing all those stores I went in being under water. Unbelievable."
Chris Andersen has a home on the West Bank of New Orleans that suffered some wind damage, but he says that's nothing compared to the plight of those he visited in the hurricane evacuation shelter in Baton Rouge.
"I don't even worry about (the damage to my home). It's material things, minor things. I just want to be here to support all these people because they support us," said Andersen in the Times-Picayune regarding the victims of Hurricane Katrina. "A lot of people lost family members. That's got to be a more excruciating pain than just losing a house."
The tour began at Destiny Baptist Church, continued to Istrouma Baptist Church and concluded at the Baton Rouge Rivercenter.
Shinn and the players delivered two tractor trailers full of goods (supplied by the National Basketball Players Association's Operation Rebound and Feed The Children), met with evacuees, signed autographs and posed for pictures at all three locations.
The NBPA also spearheaded a relief effort tour in Mississippi on September 15.
