"We will be okay." That is what most people I encountered on the Gulf Coast are saying. They are not sure how or when, but they are just sure they will be okay. It was a difficult, humbling experience to spend time with people - collision industry people - whose lives had turned into chaos overnight. With no good end in sight, maybe they were trying to convince themselves - and me - when they repeated "we will be okay." 

Denny and Cindy Schenck give the world a 'thumbs up' five months after Hurricane Katrina. They will be okay!

Over six months since Hurricane Katrina ravaged and forever changed lives, some people are beginning to rebuild and some are still at a dead stop. A technician who received tools from the Collision Industry Relief Organization told me, "This is not about homes or jobs anymore, this is about lives."

I had been working on a catastrophe team since the first of October. Having lived in the residue of three catastrophic hurricanes, I was about to leave the war zone, but I couldn't leave without checking on our industry brethren. I had to see more.

Standing in what was the bed liner booth are Denny Schenck, (l) and a long-term employee (and friend) who lost his home and is living in a FEMA trailer in the shop lot.

In my own small way I wanted to help. The night before I drove back into Hell's Kitchen, I stayed at the New Orleans Marriott - the very same Marriott where many of us celebrated NACE many years ago. This night, December 29, 2005, downtown New Orleans was a vanishing shadow of the rowdy, crowded, gleeful streets of NACE days. Downtown New Orleans was circled in a shroud of darkness.

It was still dark when I left the empty Marriott parking garage the next morning, heading for the St Bernard Parish. With no appointments and no schedule, I drove to the isolated sadness.

Here is one chapter in this book of our lives being rewritten after the hurricane season of 2005.

A little bit of luck

CarCraft in Chalmette, Louisiana, St. Bernard Parish, may have been one of the luckier places in town - if there was such a thing as luck here. CarCraft sits on the highest elevation in the Parish. Perhaps for that reason, the buildings are still standing. It was five months after the hurricane when I drove by CarCraft and saw the doors open. I parked my car next to a 'camp' of travel trailers at the gas station across the street and walked into the shop, where the floors were clean and the shop was full of cars. A gentleman was sweeping the floor. I asked him if I could speak with the owner. "Yes, ma'am," he said as he led me through the downstairs skeleton of an office up a newly built staircase.

Calvin "Denny" Schenck, owner of CarCraft was sitting upstairs in his temporary office, deep in conversation with an old friend. I introduced myself and asked if I could speak with him and take some pictures. His southern gracious smile answered "yes."

Building a good life

1968 was a banner year for Denny Schenck - July 1 he opened CarCraft, July 13 he turned twenty-years-old and July 20 he married Cindy. Over the years the Schenks worked hard, overcoming life's trials and tribulations, to build a good life for themselves, their family and their employees. Business was good, as CarCraft became well established in Chalmette. CarCraft repaired police and fire departments vehicles along with maintaining a thriving community customer base.

Thirty-eight years later their lives irrevocably changed. The Schenck's had a historic home in Chalmette, a horse farm in Folsom, Louisiana, a collision repair center, a truck collision repair center, a mechanical shop and a towing company.