"The City was destroyed," said Anthony Woods, as he left his job at the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), his lifelong home, his neighborhood. Everything was washed away in the floodwaters flowing from Lake Pontchartrain.

Less than a week after fleeing Hurricane Katrina, Anthony wrote that statement on a San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) employment application. With more than 20 members of his family jammed in a cousin's San Antonio apartment, Anthony played a hunch and walked into SAHA looking for work.

Anthony's 10 years of experience as a maintenance technician at HANO captured the attention of SAHA's maintenance department, and by the second week of September, he was tackling maintenance duties at one of SAHA's 61 public housing communities.

As a Housing Choice Voucher program participant, Anthony also qualified for SAHA's Katrina assistance, and moved to a local apartment with his wife and three children.

While Anthony plans to return to New Orleans some day to see the extent of the changes, he says he has found very good reasons to make San Antonio his home. "I've never felt so welcome," he said. "When I needed help, SAHA and San Antonio opened their arms to my family and myself. I love being part of a good community."