Ida Relief Efforts Spread to Our Community

Fifty masked volunteers lined two long tables in a Tucker storehouse on Wednesday night, systematically filling boxes with ready-to-eat non-perishable food items. The volunteers came from nine local congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in both Gwinnett and Dekalb Counties. They chatted, laughed and sang hymns as they worked in assembly lines, ensuring each box was packed to the brim. Though the overall mood was cheerful, there was still an underlying feeling of somber urgency. These boxes are a small, yet important part of a much larger effort. The food boxes will be shipped from the storehouse to three command centers in Slidell, Hammond, and Gonzales, Louisiana that are providing disaster relief to those whose lives were ravaged by Hurricane Ida last week.

Floodwaters were so high that a dolphin was seen swimming through one Slidell neighborhood. Downed trees, and power outages throughout the region are displacing families from their homes. The City of Hammond is completely out of gasoline, and like so many others in the area, residents of Gonzales are trying to beat the Summer heat without power.

The people in these areas need relief fast, and that desperate need has echoed all the way here to our community in Georgia. In just over an hour 488 boxes were packed. Elderly volunteer Ann Morrison was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the process went and exclaimed “I can get home in time to watch Jeopardy!”

Each box contains enough food to feed a family of four to five for a week and requires little to no preparation. The boxes will be shipped off with three truckloads of emergency supplies for area cleanup. In the coming days and weeks more volunteers from these same congregations including people from Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Berkeley Lake, and Grayson, will be invited to travel to areas devastated by hurricane Ida to help in these cleanup efforts.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is often one of the first organizations on the scene after a disaster. Last year, more than 6,500 Latter-day Saints cleaned up nearly 4,000 homes damaged by Hurricane Sally. Though the church’s aid initiatives are vast and widespread, each effort has a tight community feel as people come together in places like this Tucker storehouse, where many hands made light work on Wednesday evening.

Visit JustServe.org to find opportunities for service in your area.