Tina Deshotel could have easily given up. After two hurricanes, an ice storm, and a severe flood hit Lake Charles, Louisiana—all of them during the COVID-19 pandemic—her home was in shambles. But her husband, Vernon, worried her even more. “He...
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By Hillary Andrews , Rebekah Castor LAKE CHARLES, La. – Residents in tarp-covered homes and businesses anxiously await Friday’s omnibus appropriation bill vote. Louisiana’s lawmakers are pressing Congress to send more federal disaster...
Abraham Parfait is a bayou man through and through. A resident of Dulac, Louisiana, stories spilled out of him, drifting into the ears of the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) and Storm Aid volunteers building his new house. “I’ve got two boys,...
By Theresa Schmidt Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – In LeBleu Settlement Monday morning, it was a red-letter day for a family who wondered if they would ever get back into their home. It’s one of many homes severely damaged by Hurricane Laura. This...
By Mike Smith of The Advocate WESTLAKE — A language not usually heard in southwest Louisiana resounds through the unfinished walls of a hurricane-damaged house. A group of Amish volunteers, speaking Pennsylvania Dutch, hammer away at rebuilding it...
Jay Finkbiner was frustrated. After catching a flight from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Corpus Christi, Texas—where he would volunteer for Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)—he waited at baggage claim. And…no bag. “I went to the airport...
“Cheering and hollering!” Rev. Roy Platt clearly remembers the reaction in Jennings, Louisiana, when Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers first arrived at the Jennings Church of Christ. “When MDS came down to survey our facility, it...
Story by Theresa Schmidt for KPLC News 7 Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – Many in Southwest Louisiana are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Laura and the disasters that followed. A collaboration between Mennonites and Amish, along with...
Blue tarp after blue tarp. That’s the view for weary residents in the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana, after they’ve been through disaster on top of disaster. Hurricane Laura made landfall on Aug. 27, 2020 just south of Lake Charles, as a...
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