Free Republic

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. - It's midmorning at Bon Appetit, and the beignets are long gone. Behind a Plexiglas wall, a cook is chopping vegetables for lunch. Music heavy with brass is blaring, and Chef LeRoy Crump Jr. is rushing about with cell phone in hand, periodically stepping outdoors to greet a passer-by and tout the special, a Cajun shrimp cream pasta. The sign above his 2-week-old restaurant promises "Authentic New Orleans Cuisine and Spirits" — in small-town West Virginia, 1,000 miles from the French Quarter. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed his New Orleans home and restaurant, Crump traveled to Atlanta, then Daytona...

Two years after Hurricane Katrina blew through Louisiana, demolishing homes and displacing families, people are finally starting to make their way back home. When the Guidry family first arrived in Killeen, they came with literally nothing. "When you have no support, a situation can seem worse than it actually is," said Karen Guidry. "We were travelling from Louisiana with literally nothing, but when we hit the Texas border, there were people at a rest stop with sandwiches, toiletries, everything you could think of. Everywhere we went there were people helping, and it was truly amazing to have someone open up...