Ravens lend wing to family displaced by Katrina

On Tuesday, players and cheerleaders showed up to the 1400 block of Fulton Street to lend support and get a little dirty.

Before going into the house to lay bricks, defensive backs Evan Oglesby and Corey Ivy signed autographs for neighbors and talked football with young fans on the street. “It’s an opportunity to come out in the community,” Oglesby said. “I found out what this house is for, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

This year’s mission is to refurbish a place to live for the Duplessis family, recent arrivals in Baltimore who lost what they had in Louisiana to Hurricane Katrina.

“You always try to help the people who went through hard times,” Ivy said. “And with Katrina, we just want to give them a happy life again.”

Staying at a shelter in Baton Rouge, La., the Duplessis family had the chance to relocate to Kansas City or Baltimore.

“Since my wife has cancer,” Reynoud Duplessis said, “and she had gone through chemotherapy and radiation treatment, being with other people was not good for her [immune system]. Since my wife was originally from the Northwest, we decided to come here to Baltimore.”

Working on Saturdays with sponsors and volunteers, the Duplessis family and Sandtown Habitat for Humanity were getting a lot done. The Ravens stepped up to volunteer every Tuesday in September.

“We’ve been doing this for six years,” said Kenneth Abrams, the director of community relations for the Baltimore Ravens. “[Ever since it was started] by Jermaine and Imara Lewis.”

The focal point of this year’s NFL/United Way Hometown huddle will be a presentation of the completed house to the Duplessis family on Oct. 10. “From where it was to where it is now, [is] day and night,” Duplessis said. “We had to gut it all out and now we are making it an incredible house.”