LAFAYETTE PARISH — In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Habitat for Humanity affiliates built hundreds of houses — to meet the urgent need for safe housing. For the Lafayette affiliate, the work was no different.

“A lot of times people when they are first displaced by a storm are just in chaos. And you know the first order of business is to get them situated,” said Melinda Taylor, executive director of Lafayette Habitat for Humanity.

The scope of the disaster was so immense that in 2008, Habitat International dedicated its Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project to the Gulf Coast. That initiative included homes in Kaplan, where Taylor and her team were directly involved.

Taylor recalled what it was like to lead the small Lafayette affiliate at the time. “I’d been here for several years

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