The stories represent 15 months work started by Francesco di Santis days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast. di Santis allows anyone to reproduce his artwork as long as the image is not separated from the text accompanying the image of each storyteller. Also, the images are not to be sold. Common Ground Collective will publish a book of these portraits in 2007 as a fundraiser. More than 1500 additional portraits will eventually be added to this collection.