It’s been nearly four years since Marie Talbert has spent a single night in her home, since fleeing Hurricane Katrina just before the home struck.

“I cant wait until I get back home,” Talbert said. “I turn 63 pretty soon, and it seems like it’ll add about  63 more years to my life. What a joy it’ll be.”

Talbert  and the two grandsons she cares for are among the 12 families that will be able to return home in Church World Service’s Neighborhood: New Orleans project.

The four-week building and repair blitz will bring more than 500 volunteers from around the country to Little Woods from April 19 to May 15.

More than 10 denominations and partners that support CWS are sending volunteers. Once Little Woods, individuals will be intentionally mixed into teams from differing denominations.

“We want everyone there to be working as a single unit, not just from their denomination,” CWS Associate Director for Domestic Emergency Response, Bonnie Vollmering said.

Vollmering said the idea is that by repairing these homes for 12 families, the Little Woods neighborhood will be able to accelerate its recovery from the storm.

Little Woods sits next to Lake Ponchartrain, and sustained catastrophic flooding when Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005.  It’s a working-class community where neighbors checked on each other’s homes as the storm pushed ashore.

Largely vacant since, Little Woods is among a number of New Orleans neighborhoods where the storm’s effects are still visible and complex enough to keep families displaced.  Data by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center indicate as many as 1 in 4 New Orleans residents remain displaced.

Talbert spent the last four years moving as many times, while paying off her mortgage and trying to ensure a safe place to live for her deceased daughter’s two sons. She worked as bridge tender before the storm. Talbert was forced to retire by health complications brought on by Hurricane Katrina, but says returning to the home she’s known for years will make a total difference in her life.

“I miss living in my house, like my heartbeat,” she said.