As a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 110 out of 126 New Orleans schools were completely destroyed. The rebuilding of these schools has been a slow process. And, the most critical teaching tools of all—books—are in short supply.

St. Mary's is one of the schools that suffered devastating losses at the hand of Katrina. The entire campus was flooded under six feet of water and all facilities were decimated. Located in the heart of New Orleans and, originally an all-girl's high school, St. Mary's opened its doors just days after the disaster to children of all ages and means.

Operating out of temporary buildings and trailers, they are working to restore the most basic classroom needs. Their library lost over 10,000 books and all furniture and electronic resources. While St. Mary's been able to replace some of the high school level books through grants, they haven't yet found the resources to replenish the elementary school library. Most of the children come from low income families and almost one half of them are low level readers. They need literacy to hope for a brighter future.

To help St. Mary's purchase books for their youngest students, Cultural Care Au Pair has committed to providing funds and books for an elementary school library through our Kids First program.