No amount of rain can drown the music of New Orleans says actress Helena Bonham Carter. When powerful hurricane winds tore through the Gulf Coast in 2005 leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, tens of thousands injured and countless others without parents, children, siblings and friends, the world stood in awe. There is no question that we will dance again in Dixieland, as singer and actor Justin Timberlake put it, but when that will happen still remains to be seen.
What Americans, and those around the world knew instinctively was that the rebuilding efforts would take years, and the critical funds and resources necessary to ensure that the displaced would find their way back home would be provided by a variety of charitable initiatives, organizations and ordinary citizens who simply couldnt stand by idly.
Love Letters to the South, a one-of-a-kind photography book, is our attempt along with the worlds best-loved celebrities, to pay tribute to all those affected by the devastating hurricanes of 2005. Their messages of hope, faith, and courage are heartfelt and deeply personal and capture the spirit of humanity in the wake of unforeseen catastrophe.