August 29, 2005, is a date I will never forget. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast with unimaginable force, leaving behind destruction, heartbreak, and indifference. It was one of the greatest tragedies of our time, and it exposed deep wounds in our nation.
But it also called for action.
Within days, Operation HOPE stepped in. Together with friends and partners, we launched Project Restore HOPE: New Orleans to bring not only emergency aid but what I called economic triage — helping families stabilize financially when they had lost everything.
In that first year, thanks to the extraordinary leadership of Lance Triggs and Fred D. Smith, and with the support of hundreds of volunteers and partners, we were able to:
- Deliver more than $12 million in tax refunds to victims.
- Return over $8 million in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits in just four months.
- Provide more than $400,000 in grants to uninsured or underinsured families.
- Assist more than 16,000 survivors in the first 12 months alone.
Our friends at H&R Block, led by Mark Ernst and Bernie Wilson, donated more than $500,000 in tax prep services and hundreds of people on the ground. First American Corporation, led by Craig DeRoy, Landon Taylor, and Anand Nallathambi, helped us stand up a call center in Poway, California — without which there would have been no Project Restore HOPE. And E*TRADE Financial, led by Arlen Gelbard, stepped in with a $500,000 grant to help families left with no insurance coverage.
And then there was President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, along with the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. Their voice, support, and resources amplified our impact and showed the nation what true leadership looks like.
Ten years later, in 2015, I stood again with President Clinton and Fred Smith in Gulfport, Mississippi, reflecting on what had been accomplished. By then, HOPE Coalition America, our disaster preparedness and recovery division, had served more than 250,000 survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
We did this with partners like FEMA, the American Red Cross, H&R Block, First American Corporation, E*TRADE, and the Clinton Foundation. What we built together was unprecedented — a financial recovery effort that in some respects reached more people than even the federal government.
I said it then, and I will say it again:
One person, with a lot of help from his friends, can indeed change the world. Be that one person.
Twenty Years Later
Now, at the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I remain proud, not of myself, but of what we all did together. Tens of thousands of lives were touched. Families received dignity through financial counseling, refunds, grants, and simply knowing that someone cared enough to stand with them in their darkest hour.
What we learned in New Orleans has helped us transform and continually improve our disaster response and preparedness division, touching the lives of survivors in places like Puerto Rico, Maui, and Los Angeles through HOPE Inside Disaster deployments.
This was not just disaster response. It was the Silver Rights Movement in action — proving that financial empowerment is as essential as food, shelter, or clothing when disaster strikes.
Twenty years on, the work continues. Disasters — natural, financial, and otherwise — are still with us. But so is HOPE.
Onward, with HOPE.
John Hope Bryant