Sunday, September 28, 2008

Army of LDS volunteers provide hurricane relief in and around Houma

We had an exciting weekend. Quoting HoumaToday.com, "A yellow-shirted army of faith came to Houma and neighboring communities this weekend, with nearly 1,400- volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveling to the area to lend a hand with hurricane-relief cleanup projects." Anyone driving along Hwy 311 may have seen tents on the grounds of the LDS Church near Savanne Road or at the Living Word Church still under construction near Interstate 30. Staging site for the event was at the Living Word Church. Prior to the launching of the work, volunteers got to hear from Elder John Anderson (a high-ranking representative of the LDS church), Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, Louisiana Senate President Joel Chaisson II, and Martin Luther King III (eldest son of MLK Jr.). Kevin Voisin, VP of Motivatit Seafood, played an active role in organizing the Mormon Helping Hands volunteer event, and in identifying needs. When United Houma Nation Chief Brenda Dardar-Robichaux got involved, the effort took on a whole new dimension. The United Houma Nation is affiliated with King's Realizing the Dream campaign, which seeks to assist and empower disadvantaged communities. Brenda called King, who, in turn, sought help from the LDS Church because of their ability to organize large numbers of volunteers for efforts such as this on short notice, and within days, the large-scale project was organized with volunteers coming from throughout the southeastern U.S. for the weekend. On Saturday morning, I took some photos including the tents surrounding our Church and the activities going on at the Living Word Church staging site. Then it was time to roll away the camera, roll down my sleeves, and jump into the action. Early Sunday morning, there was a brief LDS service held at the Living Word Church, then volunteers continued their work throughout the morning, focusing heavily on areas further down the bayou (Dulac, Dularge, etc.). I was not involved on Sunday.

2 comments:

Lori said...

How cool! I think it's great that the LDS church is known for being able carry out these types of things so quickly and effectively. And it's cool that it was put together by various people from different organizations--I love it when people come together like that.

BayouCane said...

Just to let you know Lori, I always enjoy your comments. It was inspiring to see so many people coming in from all over to participate in such an organized way.