From the CEO: Hurricane Laura

Dear friends,

I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Lake Charles several times this week to visit our sister agency, Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana (CCSWLA), and provide support during this time of immediate response to the impacts of Hurricane Laura.

What I personally saw was truly devastating. It seems as though no home, no building, nothing had been left untouched.

My staff and I have been working directly with Sr. Miriam MacLean, helping her to facilitate the monumental task of managing requests to volunteer, donate, and host supply drives for their operations while preparing for the next phase of disaster recovery. I have been happy to see priests from our Diocese partnering with priests in the Diocese of Lake Charles to meet the needs of individual parishes. I’ve seen familiar faces from Acadiana and volunteers from all over the country reaching out to offer their service.

The road ahead for Southwest Louisiana is daunting - There is so much to be done. As I type this letter, crews are continuing their work on major infrastructure challenges such as large debris removal, power, phone service, etc. The fact is that the difficult work of rebuilding cannot begin until living conditions improve. Catholic of Charities of Acadiana will stand in solidarity with CCSWLA and continue to offer our skills and our staff to them in humble service.

We cannot forget about the work being done here locally in response to Hurricane Laura. Our Disaster Response and Rebuilding Together Acadiana team is responding seven days a week to a growing number of our neighbors in need of tarps, debris removal, muck outs and other types of rebuilding. St. Joseph Diner, in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, is preparing meals for the many individuals and families who have evacuated to our area and setting up meal distributions across both regions to feed those who are hungry.

Everyone wants to know how to assist and join the recovery efforts.

Here are four concrete ways to help:

Relief agencies like Catholic Charities of SW Louisiana and Catholic Charities of Acadiana will be doing long term recovery work many years after Hurricane Laura is long gone from the public eye. This takes resources. If you have the capacity to give, please consider donating.

GIVE TO CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ACADIANA

GIVE TO CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA

Warehouse space is limited both here and in Lake Charles; it is important to coordinate your in-kind donations with CCA/CCSWLA. We are helping to strategically coordinate this with all of our partners in disaster response. Click below to let us know what you and/or your organization had in mind for drives, service, or donations.

CLICK HERE FOR LAKE CHARLES SUPPORT COORDINATION

Volunteer your time here in Lafayette at St. Joseph Diner, helping to prepare and package food for both those who have been evacuated and those in the storm zone.

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER AT ST. JOSEPH DINER

Thank you again for responding to the needs of so many suffering in our community: To those affected by Hurricane Laura, along with our brothers and sisters who are experiencing poverty, hunger, and homelessness and those who have been impacted by the COVID-19 health crisis.

In service and with prayer,

Kim Boudreaux
CEO
Catholic Charities of Acadiana