When Hurricane Katrina first hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, I used to be working as a advisor within the Bethesda, Maryland workplace of Reznick Group (now CohnReznick).
Being greater than 1,000 miles away from the storm, I had no concept how a lot affect Katrina would ultimately have on me — as an expert and as an individual.
Working in my agency’s authorities companies apply on the time, we bid on the chance to function this system supervisor for the Mississippi Improvement Authority’s multibillion greenback House owner Help Program, funded by the U.S. Division of Housing and City Improvement. Reznick was very well-known for our housing-related work, and we had additionally established a distinct segment apply offering program administration companies to authorities businesses.
Placing these two areas of experience collectively, we bid on and have been chosen by the state of Mississippi to handle its post-Katrina House owner Help Program. It was the most important engagement our agency had ever been concerned with.Our cost was to arrange a course of so householders — lots of whom misplaced all the things in Katrina — might apply for money grants offered by the state to restore or rebuild their houses. This was a monumental job that may take me nicely past my earlier accounting agency expertise. Greater than 80,000 houses throughout Mississippi had been broken or destroyed by Katrina in addition to a lot of the infrastructure (highways, bridges, and so forth.) individuals relied on for on a regular basis life. With a lot devastation, the expectation was that fifty,000 residents or extra can be making use of for home-owner grants.
I quickly discovered myself on a aircraft to Mississippi and would work there for the subsequent three years serving to administer this system. The scope of our engagement included organising and staffing three grant utility service facilities throughout the Gulf Coast of the state — in Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties. The service heart areas we ended up selecting included a boarded-up restaurant, an outlet mall and the gymnasium of St. Stanislaus, a Catholic boarding faculty. Along with constructing the service heart services from the bottom up and organising computer systems and different gear for the appliance consumption course of, we would have liked to rent and prepare greater than 300 native residents to employees the facilities. We additionally employed an extra 300 individuals supporting our efforts from the state capital in Jackson.
Our work for the state of Mississippi and the victims of Katrina was each daunting and extremely gratifying. The amount of functions was monumental and your entire course of, together with the distribution of funds, was advanced as we would have liked to fulfill regulatory necessities and uphold accuracy. Individuals who misplaced all the things — together with relations — waited patiently in line, usually within the Mississippi summer time warmth. Each applicant had a unique story to inform, and most of those tales have been heart-wrenching. I used to be so pleased with the methods our crew members in Mississippi confirmed compassion as they met with many individuals who now not had houses to return to. Ultimately, we helped course of and distribute greater than $2.3 billion in home-owner grants.
So, it’s now greater than 20 years since Hurricane Katrina first battered the Gulf Coast. As many people throughout the nation not too long ago paused to mirror on the lives and property misplaced as a result of this unprecedented storm occurring 20 years in the past, I shared in our nation’s remembrance. However my time serving the individuals of Mississippi as an accounting agency advisor supplies me with further perspective.
I nonetheless recall the resilience of so many Mississippians who coped with the storm’s aftermath whereas committing to rebuilding their houses and their lives. I keep in mind how grateful they have been for the work we have been doing and the way affected person they have been in making use of for, and receiving, the home-owner grants. And I keep in mind, with immense satisfaction, the devoted crew we put collectively to employees the engagement. This included many enterprise colleagues of mine but in addition so many Mississippi residents who utilized to assist our efforts and have become our boots on the bottom. Along with aiding different candidates, a few of these individuals have been candidates themselves, having misplaced their very own houses to the storm.
When individuals consider the general public accounting occupation, they usually do not realize that what we do can have a monumental affect on individuals’s lives. Actually, my post-Katrina work is an instance of this, however there are various examples. Whether or not it is aiding a enterprise proprietor in making a succession plan involving their kids, leveraging tax credit to assist a developer remodel a dilapidated theater right into a busy neighborhood heart, or supporting a once-thriving enterprise by way of a restructuring, the work we do will be life-changing for our shoppers — and for us.
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, I proceed my work as a part of CohnReznick’s authorities and public sector advisory apply. Whereas I’m now again in my workplace in Bethesda, the work I do continues to assist communities as they get better from a catastrophe. Following Katrina, my engagements have included restoration efforts for these impacted by the subprime mortgage disaster, Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Harvey and plenty of different catastrophic occasions which have deeply impacted our communities.
Hurricane Katrina modified me as an individual and as a enterprise advisor. Via the toughest three years of my skilled life, I bought to expertise what an excellent crew — led by accountants — can accomplish once we work collectively. Everybody in our occupation needs to be pleased with what we do. As a result of what we do will be life-changing for the shoppers and communities we serve and for every of us as nicely.
