There is a lot of concern that national attention has moved away from the destruction and devastation from Hurricane Laura in western Louisiana. 16 parishes are still in a state of emergency, and 18 parishes are eligible for personal assistance within the state. Second Harvest Food Bank Communications Specialist Jay Vise joined Newell on the show Thursday afternoon to explain what the scene on the ground is in and around Lake Charles.
“Give us an assessment of what you guys are seeing, and what the overall response is down there,” Newell began.
“We’ve been all the way from the Texas line, down to Cameron, north towards Alexandria… the footprint of this is really pretty huge,” Vise said. “We’re hopeful now, we’re seeing electricity coming back on in some areas a little faster than we thought. Some areas are still going to be without power six weeks from now. The little towns out there, even once they get their grid put back together, they may have miles and miles of majority utility lines to get put back in place. We’re serving a lot of people who are going to be without power for a while, and also people who are getting power back on but have major damage in their homes. People want to get back into their own homes and bedrooms as quickly as possible, even when they have major damage.”
“Obviously, this places additional stress on your organization, and you need assistance as well in order to provide sustenance for folks out there,” Newell continued. “What is your biggest need at the present time?”“It’s basically all of the above,” Vise replied. “For the distribution events, we’re working closely with United Way, Catholic Charities… volunteers are an absolute must, anyone that can volunteer with us or any of these organizations, that’s absolutely needed, as are monetary donations. We’re on track to do double the poundage we usually do on a regular year, which is 35-40 million pounds. That’s expensive to do, it takes extra trucks, extra people… monetary donations are absolutely essential. I’ve looked hard at the finances of this organization over the last seven years, and they are so, so efficient with the dollar. Every dollar we collect, we can make four meals possible, and 97 cents of every dollar goes towards feeding people.”
“What’s the best way for people to donate food and money?”“Email help@secondharvest.org, those come directly to me. If you’re an established group that’s already headed out here, you can stop by our Lafayette facility and we’ll put every bit of food and water and supplies that we can possibly put in your truck or trailer. Or if you’re an established agency that wants to coordinate a site, if you know of an area out here where people need help, know a place where we can set up a distribution site, send us an email. We monitor that 24/7.”