Flood Donations are Necessary

You’re tired, you’re hungry, and when you’re not worried you’re bored and all you want to do is get home. Then you remember what you briefly forgot: your home is under water and now you get worried again. As of now all that you own in the world is what you’re wearing and a couple of containers of photo albums, external hard drives and a laptop and a garbage bag with your wedding dress. You just want to go home and lay in your bed. You have no home nor car left to get there, what are you going to do? Everything is gone – for maybe the first time in your life you’re a victim. And when you look around the shelter you see hundreds of others, some are whole family units, sitting, worried, tired and bored, restless… looking back at you. Like you, many others forgot to grab deodorant on the rush out of the house with what you consider absolutely valuable.

It’s hard to imagine what the flood victims are experiencing up close and personal.

Some forty-thousand homes are flooded in the Baton Rouge area and many thousands elsewhere and looking at the number 40,000 or 50,000 homes represents in reality thousands more individual lives forever disrupted and it’s not over yet – unlike a hurricane that rages and moves on weaker for having known us, this thing is hanging around some. And the rivers are still rising.

Think about it – there’s 40,000 – 60,000 flooded homes. That’s maybe 100,000 of our neighbors, friends, relatives…. If you don’t know somebody affected, you know somebody who does. – no body was prepared for this – no five days warning like a hurricane – it started raining Friday and bang. By Sunday maybe one hundred thousand people that need, everything.

Start with the Red Cross at redcross.org.

And then look for reputable local organizations, your church, businesses taking hard good donations, what’s needed?

Bottled water – diapers – formula – toiletries – personal hygiene items– dog and cat food – canned food – toothbrushes – new brassieres of various sizes - socks – t-shirts – underwear – shirts – slacks – jeans – shorts – stuff we take for granted unless we lose it all in a night.

Here are some places taking donations – Always call ahead to be sure they’re open-and not out delivering already.

• Lake Charles – East Ridge Baptist Church – 5400 La 397 South of town
  Call the office – 337-477-7117
• Moss Bluff – ECO Enterprises – 407 Sam Houston Jones 337-842-3793
• Westlake City Hall – 1001 Mulberry taking donations through Sunday 433-0691
• Westlake Police Dept at 701 Johnson

If you’re comfortable, if you’re rested right now start by sending $10 to the Red Cross by texting LAFLOODS to 90999. Your money is earmarked for relief here.