Advertisement
Iray has been in St. Bernard Parish since the early days of Made with Love Cafe, and has worked very hard to manifest a long term community center there. His hard work has paid off and that vision has become reality.
Iray can be found on tribe at: people.tribe.net/8058bafc-...7b1628eeaa
...and he sent these stories today sharing his success:
++++++
Keene Sentinel.8/29/2006
I thought you might like to see this article from SentinelSource.com, the online version of The Keene Sentinel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acworth man gives his time to community
HTTP://www.sentinelsource.com/main.asp
Web Posted 8/29/2006
Jake Berry
Article :
ARABI, La. — Raphael M. Nabatoff has been trying to get home to Acworth since April.
But time keeps getting away from him, he said.
Nabatoff, a longtime Acworth resident who has been leading a community effort to develop a community center in storm-ravaged Arabi, La., has been working in Arabi since January. And except for a two-week visit in February, he hasn’t been home since.
“I thought I was coming back (for a visit) in April,” Nabatoff said from an office phone in the donated Masonic Hall that will soon house the community center. “But I was so mired in (paperwork) and community meetings, it just wasn’t possible.”
In April, Nabatoff was named executive director of the Community Center of St. Bernard Parish, which, when completed, will offer Arabi residents a place to eat, socialize and use Internet services, among other activities, he said.
“It’s a safe, all-inclusive space where people can come and just share their stories and commiserate,” Nabatoff said. “There’s no greater need than the need of community and fellowship.”
Throughout his first five months in Arabi, Nabatoff addressed those needs through another venue: He worked as a volunteer at the Made With Love Cafe, a food distribution center in Arabi that served more than 200,000 meals to storm survivors, according to its Web site. It closed in May.
“Everybody hated to see (the cafe) go,” he said. “But it was time. It was an all-volunteer group, and the conditions were hard. ... I wanted to do something that would be here and lasting.”
So he shifted his focus.
In March, Nabatoff put off his planned homecoming when he started meeting with residents and organizers to develop plans for the community center.
And when he took the executive director position — a five-year commitment, he said — it postponed his plans indefinitely.
“I was sorry that I didn’t make it back,” said Nabatoff, who moved in June into a friend’s motor home after spending the first five months in a tent. “But, I knew in my heart that the right thing to do was to put all my energy into making this community center happen. The people really need it. ... It’s a year after the storm and people’s lives, in many ways, are still on hold.”
Nabatoff and the other local volunteers formed a nonprofit group in April. The group teamed with the Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge of Arabi and, together, they arranged to use the lodge’s storm-damaged 3,800-square-foot reception hall to house the center.
“We’re hoping to have the place open in five or six weeks,” Nabatoff said.
But how it will raise money is another question.
Organizers have detailed a $110,000 budget for the first six months, Nabatoff said. And, though a pair of grants they’ve received will help — $30,000 from the United Way of Greater New Orleans and $5,000 from a local conservation group — the group is in need of further donations, he said.
Nabatoff is confident the the money will be there, though. And he’s also sure that, when the finances are set, he’ll take some time off for a return to New Hampshire.
“I thought maybe for Labor Day,” Nabatoff said. “But, realistically, I’ll be home for foliage. I couldn’t miss that.”
Information: The Community Center of St. Bernard Parish: groups.msn.com/ccstbp
www.nola.com/news/t-p/fr...ge/index.ssf
New Hampshirite in for the long haul
He becomes director of community center
Sunday, September 03, 2006
By John Pope
Staff writer
When Raphael M. "Iray" Nabatoff heard about the desperate conditions in St. Bernard Parish, he left his native New Hampshire in January and headed south, determined to volunteer for 18 days.
At the end of his stint at a free kitchen in Arabi, Nabatoff flew home, but it was only to tie up loose ends. He returned to St. Bernard on Valentine's Day, committed to stay for five years and determined to do whatever he could to help the storm-racked parish get back on its feet.
"Meeting the people in St. Bernard was like connecting with family I hadn't met before," said Nabatoff, 53. "I realized that everything, with the exception of the good will, was short term, other than the need. All the disaster-relief agencies have cut back and pulled out in preparation for another disaster, and the need is still here."
A month later, he started meeting with residents about setting up a community center in Old Hickory Hall, which had been part of the Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge No. 428 on Lebeau Street in Arabi. He is the executive director, and he drives around the parish in a Nissan pickup truck with a bumper sticker saying, "St. Bernard Parish: We're Coming Back!"
"I gave a five-year commitment to this project," he said. "I literally walked out of my life in New England to make this happen. I consider it a life-defining moment, and I knew in my heart that this was a very worthwhile project that needed to happen, and I just felt that if not me, who's going to do it?"
Nabatoff said his decision to stay crystallized when he saw people socializing at a St. Joseph's altar.
"I saw residents connecting with friends and relatives they hadn't seen since before the storm," he said. "The power of community and the power of this community, as displaced as it may be to some degree, really touched me. The vision of the community center really jelled that weekend."
Wearing a beret and sandals, Nabatoff spoke as he walked around the dark, stiflingly hot Masonic hall, which still has no electricity. Masonic paraphernalia, pews and a dusty American flag have been pushed to the middle of the vast main room.
One of the community center board members is Alberta Lewis, whose father founded the lodge.
"We're very grateful for his vision and for the effort that he has put forth," she said. "We're very proud of him."
Partitions have been set up in the hall for what will be a computer room, and Nabatoff plans to set up a kitchen that will offer hot dinners on weeknights.
"My dad was a butcher," Nabatoff said. "He had a meatpacking plant and a restaurant, so I've been around food service pretty much my whole life."
Because he receives Social Security for a work-related back injury 20 years ago, Nabatoff, who is single, has been able to be a full-time volunteer. Before coming south, he had worked at a community kitchen in Keene, N.H., serving as many as 130 people a night.
"To me, breaking bread has always been a spiritual act and a way of sharing," he said. "I've gone to gatherings of people and cooked a pot of food just to share, just for the joy of breaking bread."
Nabatoff has stayed, even though that meant spending 5 1/2 months living in a communal tent. He has graduated to a camper in Chalmette.
"I'm in the middle of the Murphy Oil spill," he said, smiling. "I hope to live in Old Arabi at some point, but my plate is so full making the community center. I'll deal with my personal comfort at some point, but we need to get our door open."
The Community Center of St. Bernard has been established as a nonprofit corporation, and it has a Web site, groups.msn.com/ccstbp.
Although he expects the center to be in full swing in five years, Nabatoff said he might stay after that.
"Some people have a house in Mississippi they go to, to get out of town," he said. "Mine'll be in New England."
. . . . . . .
John Pope can be reached at jpope@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3317.
Iray can be found on tribe at: people.tribe.net/8058bafc-...7b1628eeaa
...and he sent these stories today sharing his success:
++++++
Keene Sentinel.8/29/2006
I thought you might like to see this article from SentinelSource.com, the online version of The Keene Sentinel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acworth man gives his time to community
HTTP://www.sentinelsource.com/main.asp
Web Posted 8/29/2006
Jake Berry
Article :
ARABI, La. — Raphael M. Nabatoff has been trying to get home to Acworth since April.
But time keeps getting away from him, he said.
Nabatoff, a longtime Acworth resident who has been leading a community effort to develop a community center in storm-ravaged Arabi, La., has been working in Arabi since January. And except for a two-week visit in February, he hasn’t been home since.
“I thought I was coming back (for a visit) in April,” Nabatoff said from an office phone in the donated Masonic Hall that will soon house the community center. “But I was so mired in (paperwork) and community meetings, it just wasn’t possible.”
In April, Nabatoff was named executive director of the Community Center of St. Bernard Parish, which, when completed, will offer Arabi residents a place to eat, socialize and use Internet services, among other activities, he said.
“It’s a safe, all-inclusive space where people can come and just share their stories and commiserate,” Nabatoff said. “There’s no greater need than the need of community and fellowship.”
Throughout his first five months in Arabi, Nabatoff addressed those needs through another venue: He worked as a volunteer at the Made With Love Cafe, a food distribution center in Arabi that served more than 200,000 meals to storm survivors, according to its Web site. It closed in May.
“Everybody hated to see (the cafe) go,” he said. “But it was time. It was an all-volunteer group, and the conditions were hard. ... I wanted to do something that would be here and lasting.”
So he shifted his focus.
In March, Nabatoff put off his planned homecoming when he started meeting with residents and organizers to develop plans for the community center.
And when he took the executive director position — a five-year commitment, he said — it postponed his plans indefinitely.
“I was sorry that I didn’t make it back,” said Nabatoff, who moved in June into a friend’s motor home after spending the first five months in a tent. “But, I knew in my heart that the right thing to do was to put all my energy into making this community center happen. The people really need it. ... It’s a year after the storm and people’s lives, in many ways, are still on hold.”
Nabatoff and the other local volunteers formed a nonprofit group in April. The group teamed with the Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge of Arabi and, together, they arranged to use the lodge’s storm-damaged 3,800-square-foot reception hall to house the center.
“We’re hoping to have the place open in five or six weeks,” Nabatoff said.
But how it will raise money is another question.
Organizers have detailed a $110,000 budget for the first six months, Nabatoff said. And, though a pair of grants they’ve received will help — $30,000 from the United Way of Greater New Orleans and $5,000 from a local conservation group — the group is in need of further donations, he said.
Nabatoff is confident the the money will be there, though. And he’s also sure that, when the finances are set, he’ll take some time off for a return to New Hampshire.
“I thought maybe for Labor Day,” Nabatoff said. “But, realistically, I’ll be home for foliage. I couldn’t miss that.”
Information: The Community Center of St. Bernard Parish: groups.msn.com/ccstbp
www.nola.com/news/t-p/fr...ge/index.ssf
New Hampshirite in for the long haul
He becomes director of community center
Sunday, September 03, 2006
By John Pope
Staff writer
When Raphael M. "Iray" Nabatoff heard about the desperate conditions in St. Bernard Parish, he left his native New Hampshire in January and headed south, determined to volunteer for 18 days.
At the end of his stint at a free kitchen in Arabi, Nabatoff flew home, but it was only to tie up loose ends. He returned to St. Bernard on Valentine's Day, committed to stay for five years and determined to do whatever he could to help the storm-racked parish get back on its feet.
"Meeting the people in St. Bernard was like connecting with family I hadn't met before," said Nabatoff, 53. "I realized that everything, with the exception of the good will, was short term, other than the need. All the disaster-relief agencies have cut back and pulled out in preparation for another disaster, and the need is still here."
A month later, he started meeting with residents about setting up a community center in Old Hickory Hall, which had been part of the Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge No. 428 on Lebeau Street in Arabi. He is the executive director, and he drives around the parish in a Nissan pickup truck with a bumper sticker saying, "St. Bernard Parish: We're Coming Back!"
"I gave a five-year commitment to this project," he said. "I literally walked out of my life in New England to make this happen. I consider it a life-defining moment, and I knew in my heart that this was a very worthwhile project that needed to happen, and I just felt that if not me, who's going to do it?"
Nabatoff said his decision to stay crystallized when he saw people socializing at a St. Joseph's altar.
"I saw residents connecting with friends and relatives they hadn't seen since before the storm," he said. "The power of community and the power of this community, as displaced as it may be to some degree, really touched me. The vision of the community center really jelled that weekend."
Wearing a beret and sandals, Nabatoff spoke as he walked around the dark, stiflingly hot Masonic hall, which still has no electricity. Masonic paraphernalia, pews and a dusty American flag have been pushed to the middle of the vast main room.
One of the community center board members is Alberta Lewis, whose father founded the lodge.
"We're very grateful for his vision and for the effort that he has put forth," she said. "We're very proud of him."
Partitions have been set up in the hall for what will be a computer room, and Nabatoff plans to set up a kitchen that will offer hot dinners on weeknights.
"My dad was a butcher," Nabatoff said. "He had a meatpacking plant and a restaurant, so I've been around food service pretty much my whole life."
Because he receives Social Security for a work-related back injury 20 years ago, Nabatoff, who is single, has been able to be a full-time volunteer. Before coming south, he had worked at a community kitchen in Keene, N.H., serving as many as 130 people a night.
"To me, breaking bread has always been a spiritual act and a way of sharing," he said. "I've gone to gatherings of people and cooked a pot of food just to share, just for the joy of breaking bread."
Nabatoff has stayed, even though that meant spending 5 1/2 months living in a communal tent. He has graduated to a camper in Chalmette.
"I'm in the middle of the Murphy Oil spill," he said, smiling. "I hope to live in Old Arabi at some point, but my plate is so full making the community center. I'll deal with my personal comfort at some point, but we need to get our door open."
The Community Center of St. Bernard has been established as a nonprofit corporation, and it has a Web site, groups.msn.com/ccstbp.
Although he expects the center to be in full swing in five years, Nabatoff said he might stay after that.
"Some people have a house in Mississippi they go to, to get out of town," he said. "Mine'll be in New England."
. . . . . . .
John Pope can be reached at jpope@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3317.
posted by:
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
