Anderson met with the two co-founders of The St. Bernard Project, Liz McCartney and Zack Rosenburg, a Washington D.C. couple who quit their jobs as a teacher and a lawyer to come to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help rebuilding. 

“With United Way and others, they formed the St. Bernard Project, a non-profit that got off the ground last August,” reported Anderson.

“The group says that with just $10,000 in building materials and volunteer labor, it can make a gutted house livable in just 8-10 weeks.”

Anderson also reported that 3,000 volunteers from more than 30 countries have provided free labor to help.  The St. Bernard Project has built more than 40 homes and worked on 80 others.

“We think they're terrific. This whole crew from St. Bernard Project has just been unbelievably helpful . . . We could not have been here without them,” said interviewee Les Scharfenstein, a St. Bernard Parish resident whose home was rebuilt through The St. Bernard Project. More rebuilding is on the way thanks to a $425,000 grant from the GE Foundation to United Way for the project. We will have more on the GE Foundation Grant and a St. Bernard Women's Build supported by the United Way Women's Ledership Council in our next enews.

This was the latest in a series of trips that Cooper has made to the Gulf Coast since the post-Katrina coverage that elevated him to network news star status. Anderson primarily addressed the crime in New Orleans, with more than 100 murders taking place in the city so far this year, calling attention to government failure and incompetence.

“To me the bottom-line thing is to keep going and to keep telling the story," Anderson told TV Columnist Dave Walker at the Television Critics Association press tour in Hollywood, where Cooper was promoting an upcoming two-part documentary he's hosting titled "Planet in Peril.”

"You know, as most people know, there's not a lot of (New Orleans coverage) on TV. It's shocking to me that more people aren't honoring and remembering what we saw transpire, and which still transpires, not only in New Orleans but in other parts of Louisiana and all along the Gulf Coast. I try to go back every couple of weeks at least, and I still don't feel I'm doing enough."

Cooper said that although he understands local residents' frustration, as an occasional visitor he is able to see definite signs of progress in the city's recovery.

"The French Quarter is cleaner than I've ever seen it," he said. "Clearly, they're making a huge impact there. From what everyone tells me, it seems like there's a lack of leadership. There still seems to be a lack of a plan. I'm still confused by what the plan is. I ask this question all the time, 'What is the plan?' I've heard a million different explanations for what the plan is. I've talked to a lot of different politicians, and when they're talking I understand the words they're saying, but when I look back at the transcripts, it doesn't amount to anything. It doesn't make sense."

For more information on the St. Bernard Project, please visit their website www.stbernardproject.org. 

To see the Anderson Cooper segment highlighting the St. Bernard Project, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=qaLuQByqwO0

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