Giving Tuesday
FUUNO's 2024 Giving Tuesday Appeal
The First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans (FUUNO) is committed to working towards reparations to indigenous people in our region and climate justice. This year, in our appeal to the larger community for Giving Tuesday, we are seeking support for the Pointe au ChienTribe in southeastern Louisiana. This small 600 person community of Native Americans was virtually destroyed by hurricane Ida in 2021, losing most of their homes. Of 70 homes before Ida, only 12 were livable afterwards. Their elders were displaced, their family lands devastated, and their boats and livelihoods were destroyed. Now, three years later, they still say their greatest need is for resources to rebuild their homes.
The damage was exacerbated by the many oil company canals which have turned their native lands into coastline and threatened their existence. They are fighting to rebuild their homes, with an eye toward restoration and protection to make their fragile coastline more stable, and their community more able to survive future storms. Because they are a small and somewhat unknown community, they have had difficulty getting attention and assistance. For more information, see https://www.rebuildingpointeauchientogether.org/ and please give generously. 100% of all donations will be forwarded to this community.
"We are the Pointe au Chien Indian tribe, a vibrant and tight-knit community of 600 in southeastern Louisiana. Although historically land-based, we have become a coastal community as natural disasters and oil mining have submerged and damaged our lands. Most recently, our tribe was devastated by Hurricane Ida in 2021. Despite many obstacles, including being overlooked by many government agencies and nonprofits, Pointe au Chien has been fighting to rebuild ever since. This is our home; we refuse to surrender it. Rebuilding Pointe Au Chien Together is dedicated to supporting our intersectional work in combining nature-based environmental solutions, fortified building standards, and cultural sovereignty to foster sustainable resilience for our community. Our mission is to gather donations and connect with supporters from around the world to continue protecting and rebuilding our ancestral home."
— The Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe
“I’ve spent four years studying environmental injustices, systemic mistreatment of Indigenous people in Louisiana, worsening effects from intensifying storms, and disappearing wetlands. But I was finally seeing and hearing it all firsthand, beginning to just understand how fast and drastically climate change was devouring the coast, and how it was disturbing entire communities. Many Americans don’t realize that Louisiana even has numerous Native American tribes; Louisiana is home to over 11 state-recognized tribes. Despite this, many of these groups, including the Pointe-Au-Chien, have still not received federal recognition. Therefore, it is much harder to recover after devastating storms like Ida. “
— From Sara Heimlich, Rachel Carson Council Fellow, Tulane University
“Learning from the Frontlines of Disaster—The Pointe Au Chien”