I am a freelance journalist and New York is my home. But New Orleans was once. I am in NOLA now, waiting to get home in the wake of Sandy. So while I am pacing, worried about my husband, friends and my city, I thought up this project. Who better than the people of New Orleans to talk to the people of NYC right now. They know, they lived through Katrina. They are still living with it seven years later.

If you are a current or former resident of New Orleans that lived through the nightmare of Katrina and want to participate in NOLA to New York please write on a piece of paper what it is you would say to the people of New York if you could. Anything: that you care, that you know what they are going through, don’t drink the water, make sure to be kind to your neighbors when times get worse before they get better - anything. Then take a picture like the ones seen here.

Send them to andy@andykopsa.com.

Please include who you are, where you live/d in New Orleans during Katrina and a brief note about how you lived through the storm.

If you would like to share this site with friends, please do. Also, if you want to post on Twitter, please use #NOLAtoNYC. Thanks.

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Calvin was living Uptown before Katrina.  He was evacuated to seven different cities starting with San Antonio, TX.  But, he managed to get back.  After he did he opened his own barber shop.  When asked what he would say to New Yorkers, he paused for a minute before he said 'it’s not about the material things…'