About Us

The devastation of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans has been difficult to watch for everyone.  A tremendous number of people having given freely of their time and money to organizations that have helped with the recovery.  We wanted to take it a step further and not only help the people who have been affected, but directly assist in bringing back commerce, specifically small retail shops that cannot survive without customers.

Two professors at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia began working together to develop this web site with the assistance of graduate and undergraduate students.  As a native of New Orleans and graduate of Louisiana State University and The University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Nancy Engelhardt Furlow enlisted the assistance of Dr. Diane Murphy, to develop and promote this web site. 

Students in Dr. Furlow’s graduate marketing class are working with Dr. Murphy’s undergraduate information systems class to make this site possible.  We do not accept contributions through this site, rather we encourage you to shop at the listed stores and directly help the businesses along the Gulf Coast rebuild.

 Our mission statement:

Shoptorebuild.org has been established to aid in the recovery of the Gulf Coast region by connecting the global community directly to the communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. 

We are creating an opportunity for concerned citizens to personally assist in the rebuilding effort by shopping with merchants that have the ability to fulfill orders online.  We feel that promoting commerce is a positive and creative way to assist the Gulf Coast communities as they rebuild.