Protecting a historic NOLA church from future storms

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— There’s an old church on N. Villere Street in the 7th Ward that was badly damaged by Hurricane Ida. With Hurricane Francine bearing down it took an unselfish effort to help save the church.

“Hurricane Ida blew the wall down, blew open both walls of the church, and it collapsed,” Reverend Harold Lewis of Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church of Eternal Life said.

An already delicate church was a big concern for Rev. Lewis once Hurricane Francine came through.

Luckily teams with the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans and JLV Construction jumped in to help.

“There were individuals that could quite frankly could have been at Rouse’s shopping, or could’ve been doing stuff to prepare for the storm, but instead they were here saving what’s left of the building,” Kirk Williamson, CEO of JLV Construction said.

Williamson said, “We mobilized quickly and put up some shoring and helped save the rest of the building.”

They got lumber up to hold the structure in place in all directions.

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The building was built in 1880, and became a church in 2005. It once was a place where jazz musician Buddy Bolden played. For many years it served as a Benevolent Society which helped free creoles with health insurance and health care.

They believe its significance must be protected from future storms and fully restored again.

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“The Preservation Resource Center helped Rev. Lewis and the congregation get a grant preserving black churches. The grant was for $100-thousand to help fix the church,” Michelle Soriak, Director of Conservation and Education for the Preservation Resource Center said.

She went on to say, “To fix it 100 percent with everything then we are looking at needing $700-thousand.

Rev. Lewis said he’d like the fully restored church to not only serve as a church, but as a community center.

They are hoping they can get more funding through grants and donations.

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