Accustomed as a shlucha (Chabad emissary) to helping those in her community, Bluma Rivkin went into action after Hurricane Katrina, first with the pressing concerns of finding housing and aid for evacuees, then with the larger task of rebuilding the community. The daughter of Chabad shluchim, Rivkin chose early on to become a Jewish educator. After graduating from Beth Rivka Teachers Seminary, she began teaching kindergarten through eighth grade. After marrying Rabbi Zelig Rivkin in 1972, the pair opened a Chabad House in San Diego and spent two years there before moving to New Orleans to open Chabad at Tulane in 1975. There she helped renovate and run the Beth Israel mikveh. Later, she helped organize Mikvah Chaya Mushka, which first opened in 1989 and which, after Katrina, became the only mikveh available for hundreds of miles. Rivkin taught at Lakeshore, the community Jewish day school, for many years, and when Lakeshore closed, she helped build Torah Academy, a K-8 Jewish day school that opened in 1994. After Katrina, Rivkin first helped displaced families find new homes in Houston, then returned to New Orleans with her family to resume her role as co-director of Chabad and help reopen the Chabad House, the mikveh, and the school. As of 2023 she is the Mikvah Director of Chabad House Uptown in New Orleans.