As Baton Rouge residents struggle to cope with the devastation caused by the worst flood in over 100 years, University students are doing anything they can to help out.
Cisco Gonzales and Naomi Hill are on the Leadership Team at Christ the King Catholic Church on campus. They have spent every day the past two weeks organizing relief efforts to help flood victims.
“When it was all happening, we got together and said ‘we’ve got to do something’,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales and Hill split volunteers into teams and sent them to different locations. They worked four days last week, helping out by offering prayers and comfort to those in need.
“You never really knew from house to house,” Hill said. “It was a little bit different. It could be like emptying out pots and pans of the water, tearing down walls, gutting or putting things in boxes. Just a little bit of everything.”
But the teams didn’t just help rebuild, they also saved homes from being flooded. As the flood waters moved out of Baton Rouge, Gonzales said he received phone calls from worried residents. They asked if someone could help sandbag their homes.
Gonzales and his team were quick to the rescue.
“We had to get the sandbags into my jeep and drive it to her house,” Gonzales said. “It only had a foot and a half of water around it at that time. We built up a three-foot wall of bags and we were able to pump the water out and her house didn’t get flooded.”
Other church organizations also jumped into action. The Baptist Collegiate Ministry sent 85 members to locations around the Baton Rouge area.
Ellen Farmer said her team went to gut houses every day last week. The flood had a significant impact on the BCM community.
“Personally, we had 15 students at the BCM affected,” Farmer said. “My grandparents got three feet of water.”
Farmer said that knowing friends whose homes were damaged inspired many BCM members to volunteer. She made sure her teams were available at any time of the day to offer services.
“It was a completely different experience,” Farmer said. “The first house I walked into was a girl’s that I’m really good friends with, and her house had three feet of water in it.”
Farmer said she has reached out to other Baptist groups around the country for help and support. Groups from Florida and Alabama will come to Baton Rouge over the weekend to assist in the relief efforts.
“When everyone’s houses are destroyed, you just don’t have the manpower to do all the work,” Farmer said. “So I’m really excited that people from out of state are going to be coming in and helping out wherever.”