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In August of 2021 Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana as a category 4 storm with windspeeds in excess of 150 mph. Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana south of New Orleans.
At the time of the storm, my daughter Erin was the administrative assistant at Holy Family Catholic Church in nearby Dulac, LA. Erin and her family were able to vacate north to Baton Rouge, LA in time to wait out the storm. After the storm had passed it was evident that trying to return to Dulac was not going to be possible, so Erin and her family came to stay with us in Punta Gorda FL until such time that they could return to safely to Dulac. The church and the surrounding area had sustained major damage and was without power or water for 6 1/2 weeks.
During that time while Erin and her family were staying with us in Florida, she was on the phone constantly with the pastor of the church, Fr Antonio. I kept asking what I could do to help and was finally challenged by Fr. Antonio to procure 2 shipping containers to store items that were donated to to the church to help with recovery efforts. When it was safe to return to Dulac on October 6th I arrived at the church ahead of receiving 2 – 40 foot shipping containers I had arranged to purchase. I brought with me a U-Haul trailer full of plywood and lumber to build shelving for the inside of the shipping containers. I also packed many of my tools in anticipation of using my handyman skills to help with rebuilding efforts in the surrounding area.
But Fr Antonio (andGod) had other plans for me. It seemed my Project Management skills were going to be more in demand than my handyman skills! I was asked to help lead the team at the church in the recovery efforts.
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We partnered with:
- Bayou Community Foundation – Provided $500k grant to Holy Family Catholic Church for building materials and contracted labor.
- Mennonite Disaster Services – We provided Case Management services and housing for MDS. MDS also received over $2M in grants from the Bayou Community Foundation to do repairs and build new homes.
- Catholic Charities of Houma Thibodaux – Provided case management help.
- Monday.com – Provided a non profit license to access there system. I was able to setup and build a project management site using there tools.
- Together we were able to help over 300 families and built 22 new homes.
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