• Philip Burn

Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Louisiana

Baton Rouge, LA (September 3, 2021) – Staff and volunteers deployed to the Texas Incident Command Post in Gonzales, LA, are providing practical, and emotional and spiritual support to their neighbors in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida. A fleet of mobile units, consisting of 11 Texas units and 7 from Arkansas Oklahoma, are delivering hot meals, water, and MREs into impacted communities.

“We are expanding our reach and meal service from the Gonzales Command Post and continue to discover communities in need and struggling without power after Hurricane Ida,” said Alvin Migues, Emergency Disaster Services Director from The Salvation Army, Texas Division. “Our team is returning each day with wonderful stories of resilience from storm survivors and how communities are coming together to support each other through this disaster. The Salvation Army is privileged to play a part in this recovery, and the hot meals served from our units have been greatly appreciated.”

The mobile unit from Lewisville visited Albany, LA, on Thursday, serving lunch from a church parking lot. Cars quickly filed in, and a line of people formed, anxious to receive a hot meal. Edie and Nicole have been neighbors for about six months and drove to the church together to conserve gas. “We’ve been looking out for each other since the storm came through,” said Edie. “We lost power but were pretty lucky that we didn’t have too much damage. There’s some trees and power lines down on our street but we’re doing ok considering.”

The Lewisville unit served 750 hamburgers, with beans, and chips, and distributed MREs and water in Albany. “We heard that The Salvation Army was serving food down here,” said Nicole. “We’ve got a generator so have some power, but all our food spoiled so quickly. You all are such a blessing, and we appreciate you being out here.” The Mayor of Albany also paid a visit to the feeding site to personally thank The Salvation Army volunteers for their service to the community.

Teams continue to reach into some of the hardest hit communities, particularly in the southern area of the state, with large areas of the state without power. The mobile units from the Gonzales IMT have served 37,003 meals, 26,599 drinks, and 10,914 snacks. Emotional and spiritual care is an integral part of Salvation Army disaster service and staff and volunteers have prayed with 2,348 people.

Service continues in the following communities on Friday, September 3: Hammond (2 units), Houma (3 units), Raceland, Livingston Parrish, La Place, Bayou Dularge, Bayou Blue, Cut Off, Larose, Napoloenville (2 units), Chauvin, and Sorrento.

To make a financial donation to support ongoing Hurricane Ida relief efforts, go to helpsalvationarmy.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY. For the latest disaster response information, go to www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org and watch for regular updates on our social media pages at www.facebook.com/salvationarmytexas/ and www.twitter.com/salarmytx