Family's far from home two years after Katrina
BY CHRISTINA BOYLEDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, August 30th 2007, 4:00 AM

Veronica and Allen Smith have carved out a new life for themselves in Bedford-Stuyvesant as they wait to return to New Orleans two years after Katrina hit.

It has been two years since Hurricane Katrina tore through Veronica Smith's home, yet the memories are just as raw and the struggle to rebuild goes on.
When she fled New Orleans with her two children, leaving behind her husband to ward off looters, Brooklyn was a place she only dreamed of visiting.
As the second anniversary rolls around, it is now a place Veronica has learned to call home.
"I didn't think I would be coming to New York under these circumstances," Smith said. "Time does fly; it seems like all of this happened only yesterday. I guess it's because we are still under the burden of rebuilding; it's been a long fight."
Smith, 54, was penniless when she took refuge in a niece's New York home and began the harrowing task of trying to find out whether her husband, Allen, was dead or alive.
When the family was finally reunited six weeks later, they had just the clothes on their back and the kindness of strangers.
"We didn't have a penny when we came here. We didn't know where we would get money from; we didn't know where we would live," Allen, 57, said.
"Meeting new people is fine, but leaving a home where you were raised all your life is really hard," he said.
The family eventually found a permanent apartment in Bedford-Stuyvsant through the National Association for Black Veterans, because Allen served in the Gulf War and in Vietnam.
They also received support from a group of Brooklyn-based community organizations, spearheaded by Councilman Albert Vann, which took 16 hurricane-affected families under its wing.
Like many of the 250,000 other former New Orleans residents still scattered across the country, their plans to return home have been hampered by unsavory contractors who try to cheat hurricane survivors out of their life savings.
"It's hard to trust anybody. They're stealing people's money; they're price-gouging," Smith said. "But I look forward to returning to New Orleans once my house is fixed up and I have somewhere to live."
cboyle@nydailynews.com