New Orleans - A Ninth Ward cab driver and his wife lost everything after Katrina, and like so many other families didn't have the resources to rebuild.
Then, about a year ago, a random passenger climbed into the back of Henry Adams' cab and changed everything.
Gwendolyn Adams cut the ribbon on her family’s new home in the Lower Nine. Not unusual four years post Katrina but how the couple made it to this day is what some call fate, but Gwendolyn and Henry call a miracle.
Henry has worked behind the wheel for everything his family ever had. He and his wife Gwen, a school teacher, saw Katrina’s floodwaters wreck their old camel back and their lives.
“Everything that was anything to me was in that house except my family,” said Gwen.
With no means to rebuild Gwen kept praying and Henry kept driving hoping for something to get his family back home.
“The whole story started with a simple cab ride and Mr. Adams was my cab driver,” said Gary Grossman.
Gary Grossman climbed in the back of Henrys’ cab at Lakefront Airport.
“He asked me about Katrina and I took him on a tour down here and showed him where my house was and what had happened,” said Henry.
Grossman called Henry Adams every day of his visit to drive him around the city. Everyday the two would talk more about Henrys’ plight after the storm. Eventually Henry learned that this random passenger could change his life.
“I told him I was a homebuilder from the national association of home builders and I might be able to help him,” said Grossman.
Grossman, CEO of a Pennsylvania redevelopment corporation rallied the state,local and national homebuilder's associations to donate money to build the Adams’ home. Randy Noel is a local home builder who jumped on the bandwagon. Now the dream is quickly becoming reality.
The Adams home is literally like a puzzle. Pre-built pieces made at Grossman’s South Carolina plant are trucked on a tractor trailer and literally dropped into place.
“This is the greatest thing that ever happened to me, nothing came close to this in my lifetime,”said Henry.
So the Adams’ are thankful for that passenger in Henry’s cab who gave the 76-year-old cabbie a tip he'll never forget.
Builders say the home will be officially ready for move-in on August 29th; the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
