Humanitarian Organization Lends Local Churches a Hand in Ida’s Wake

Planes, trucks and automobiles have all been used by Somebody Cares America to rush aid to areas impacted by Hurricane Ida, the Category 4 storm that devastated large parts of Louisiana.

When SCA Field Representative Mark Roye headed, with a cooker and some meat in tow, to Louisiana in response to Hurricane Ida, he wasn’t sure what the situation would be or where he would land. A friend connected him with Living Word Church in the Schriever/Houma area.

Mark set up the cooker and began to grill meat that had been donated by Kiolbassa Meats. Soon, the church had become a full-fledged point of distribution, with truckloads of supplies coming and miles of cars waiting to pick up.

“We started with a blank parking lot, and God just began to bring in all the resources,” Roye said.

Through its relational network, SCA was able to direct multiple 18-wheelers, private planes and other vehicles to the community with water, cleaning supplies, tents, solar lights, comfort bears for the children and more. Ministry partners Ally Force from Minneapolis, Minnesota; Burnt Offerings from League City, Texas: and Crisis Response International arrived with manpower, additional food and kitchen facilities. In the first week alone, nearly 14,000 hot meals had been served and a dozen truckloads of supplies were distributed.

Meanwhile, SCA also directed trucks to church partner Resurrection Life Church in Picayune, Mississippi, where supplies were unloaded, divided and delivered by box trucks to churches in areas not accessible by 18-wheeler. And longtime friends from Inner Cry Ministries in Foley, Alabama, picked up resources from our site in Houma and connected with a church in St. Rose, Louisiana, to set up a distribution site there. St. Rose is a community of 15,000 that had no assistance or resources until the church offered its site. And relief efforts had only begun!

“Nobody knows their community better than the local church,” SCA President Doug Stringer says. “That’s why we always seek to empower those churches that have a heart to serve their communities, because they will be serving them for the long haul.”

For more information, visit SomebodyCares.org. {eoa}

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