Assistance also mobilizing for Louisiana
People in South Louisiana are reaching out to their neighbors in Texas. Rains from Hurricane Harvey have flooded an estimated 30-40,000 homes and victims will need plenty of help to get back on their feet. In St. Charles Parish, Helena Ford, administrative assistant with St. John the Baptist Church in Paradis, said the Archdiocese of New Orleans has allowed area Catholic churches to do a second collection to raise money for the victims.
The money will go to the Archdiocese of Houston and dispersed there, Ford said.
As part of Hahnville High School’s Interact Club, a donation box has been set up at the school. Donations will be accepted until next week.
“Our goal is to have students bring in canned goods, towels, blankets, toothpaste and tooth brush, etc.,” said Alyssa Moreau. “We want to not only get our school involved in this drive, but also our community as well.”
The United Way of St. Charles is directing those who want to donate to the American Red Cross by visiting http://redcross.org/donate and the United Way of Greater Houston at https://www.unitedwayhouston.org/.
UW Executive Director John Dias also routes donations for pets to: https://www.austinpetsalive.org/donate/donate-now/.
As now Tropical Storm Harvey moves onto Louisiana, the UW contributed gift cards to Dwayne LaGrange, the parish’s executive director of Community Affairs, to assist residents of 15 homes in St. Charles Parish that flooded in Tuesday’s heavy rains.
Also, UW has a standing relationship with the parish government to help put people in hotels if they need housing, Dias added.
“United Way has a limited number of people, but we have funds and is typically the parish’s go-to for things like a tree falls on a house and we put them in a hotel,” he said.
Dias said some of the locations where flooding was reported includes Hahnville, Boutte, Bayou Gauche, Paradis and St. Rose.
The American Red Cross had 17,000 people in 45 shelters in Texas, said Greg Roques, Red Cross regional communications and marketing manager.
“We’re providing shelter, three meals a day and medical care, typical to the initial state of the relief operation,” Roques said.
In Louisiana, Red Cross has one shelter open in Rapides Parish, where 20 residents are being served, he said. As Harvey moves further into Louisiana, Roques said a shelter may be opened in Shreveport for people from Texas and Louisiana.
Valero Energy announced it is contributing $1 million to the American Red Cross to aid Harvey victims in Texas and Louisiana.
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