NEW ORLEANS — A Hurricane Katrina survivor has a dream.
Next year, for the 20th anniversary, she wants to organize a reunion of dozens of children she met when they evacuated out of state, but she needs help to make it happen.
And there is a reason why this dream is so personal to her.
They were just little children when the storm, which many call life-defining, blew away everything they called home.
“Now you're in a place where you don't know the kids. You're in hotels. You're in places that you can't even connect. You can't even get red beans on a Monday. You can't go to your grandmother's house. What we love was totally destroyed. It's like I'm lost. So, I know they got to be lost,” remembers Katrina survivor Danette Vincent, 64, who is now a tax auditor in Texas.
Xavier Prep and Loyola graduate, Danette Vincent, landed in Arkansas after her New Orleans East home was swallowed by Katrina waters. Seeing all the displaced children in that same life raft, gave her an idea.
“Well, let's just give them some cameras," she said. "When I, in my moments of needing something, and trying to get through all of the crazy stuff, my dad put a camera in my hand, and then that was my voice."
So, she bought 150 disposable cameras and put them in the hands of Katrina victims she met in Arkansas, and mailed them to evacuees she knew from home who landed in five other states. Her hope? Distract their minds. Give them a way to express their emotions through photography. Her assignment? Take snapshots of any, and everything. And they did.
“And I had thousands of negatives. We're looking at trying to come up with these images. And then when I told them, ‘Guess what. We're going to do an exhibit. Somebody's going to put it on in one of these old gallery mansions here. We're all going to get together. Y'all can get to dress up.’ Then they started getting interviewed by the TV cameras,” Vincent told the children.
The press coverage in Arkansas, of her program called Youth Stop, Inc., got the attention of many people. Danette even made contact with former President Bill Clinton. And then in the blink of a camera's shutter, almost 20 years have passed. Danette began searching for what became of those displaced children.
“They turned out well. I mean, considering they were traumatized, all of us. That trauma didn't destroy them. It helped strengthen them,”
She recently reunited with brothers Darren and Darrell Tillery, who were part of Youth Stop.
“It was kind of fun like taking pictures. I had never done that. Like, I was into boxing,” said Darren Tillery. He added that people believed in him. “Yeah, everybody did. I felt like I had the whole team behind me.”
“You can look back at that moment, a moment when you lost everything, and then you look to where you are now, like you know, I gained it back, you know, better and more,” said his brother Darrell Tillery, Jr.
Those men are now an electrician, a rig mechanic, and horse owner. Danette told them of her dream, to host a 20-year reunion in New Orleans with all of the Youth Stop, now grown, children, to have a gallery showing of the old, and new pictures of their lives today, and to produce a video with interviews about how their lives turned out. There are deployed military members, those in higher education, and medical professions, and small business owners.
And an NFL hopeful, who just signed with the Steelers.
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“Like, it's something you'll remember for the rest of your life. I think she's a great person for keeping those pictures all those years, you know, and eventually letting the story tell itself. So, I just want to thank her for that,” said Jacoby Windmon, 22.
Defensive end, Jacoby Windmon played at UNLV, and Michigan State, where he graduated with a degree in human development and family studies. He found his way back into the encouraging, and nurturing arms of coaches at Johnny Jacobs playground in Marrero. And has resilience, and wisdom far beyond his 22 years.
“I'm a firm believer in embracing adversity. You know, it's something that we all have to face in life, and it just makes you stronger. So, if you can just embrace it, instead of avoid it, it just builds your character. It's contagious because the people around you start to become resilient,” said Windmon.
Danette has many miles to travel to make her dream a reality for August 2025, like finding all those she calls her children, a gallery venue, and producing a documentary. She is hoping volunteers will step up and help.
“I have a will, and I know that those families want to work with me. And so hook, or by crook, it's going to get done. And I mean I'm going to be asking for all the help that I can possibly get, but I'm just going to make it happen. It's going to happen,” Vincent stated.
If you can help with a venue, video documentary, or donations to help get the former children here, call 1-888-492-1023 or E-mail dmv@youthstopinc.org.