Page 30 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2015

COASTNOTES
THE KATRINA +10 commemorative photo album and DVD focuses on the recovery the Coast is making and how much progress we’ve already made.
Photo album and DVD commemorate tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
story by Lynn Lofton
Katrina + 10 is a commemorative photo album and DVD that’s available now to prepare for observing the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina next month. It’s an offshoot of the commemorative Katrina + 10 exhibit at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art and half of the proceeds from sales goes to the museum.
The album and DVD are the brainchild of Vincent Creel, public affairs manager for the city of Biloxi. “The whole purpose is to focus on the recovery the Coast is making,” he said. “It’s a good platform
to tell the story of Biloxi and the Gulf Coast; what happened to us and how much progress we’ve made. We tried to move the story forward to today.”
The focus is not on Biloxi, but is on every town across the Coast. Creel says he and the production team had great cooperation from all the cities and various facets of the economy. The book and DVD
have photos of each city and messages from each mayor. There are photos of the hurricane’s destruction, but there are more photos of the rebuilding progress. “It’s meant to be a snapshot of where we are now,” Creel said.
Two original songs, “I Want to Come Home” and “The Biloxi Lighthouse,” are included on the DVD, as well as several different features not included in the photo album.
Speaking of the tragedy of the storm and the struggle to recover, Creel writes on the opening page of the photo album, “It’s a gripping story on so many levels: the widespread devastation on that Monday morning, the trying days in the aftermath, the universal and sustained relief efforts on behalf of so many churches, civic groups, and individuals, and the many pivotal decisions that were made in the rebuilding of our communities — and the decisions that remain to be made.”
Go to www.katrinaplus10.com for a list of outlets in every Coast city where the photo album and DVD are available.
30 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • July 2015
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