Relief Aid to Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Supplies Delivered

The first truck of supplies arrived in Baton Rouge Monday morning and was distributed by Monday afternoon. Over 37,000 pounds of food, water and hygiene supplies were sent to several locations in the New Orleans area. One of these locations was the city of Donaldsonville. Though the town itself sustained little damage in the storm, they have been overwhelmed with refugees from New Orleans. The mayor is organizing the churches of the town to provide hot meals each day and Giving Children Hope provided them with a mobile kitchen and six pick up trucks full of food. The mayor and the State Representative for the district were thrilled to be able to receive our help.

Overwhelming Destruction in Bay St. Louis

Giving Children Hope Director of Program Development David Gales and his son, Joshua, travelled to the hard hit area of Bay St. Louis, MS to assess the situation. What they found was overwhelming. David reports that hundreds of cars litter the road, having been swept away by the 20 foot storm surge. Homes were swept off foundations. There is no electricity. People are camped out in shopping center parking lots, unable to return to their mud-filled homes. Gales was able to make contact with a church in the town that is working with county officials to start feeding people. He and Joshua will be spending the night in Bay St. Louis (camping in a shopping center parking lot) and will be setting up a mobile kitchen for the church on Wednesday. Giving Children Hope will be sending a truck loaded with food and supplies to the area on Friday.