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Hurricane Disaster Response Team mobilizes after Ida devastates diocese
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October 29, 2021Just days after Hurricane Ida devastated most of the area that comprises the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre invited all diocesan employees to a meeting – which some attended in person and those who had evacuated attended via zoom – to discuss the diocese’s response to one of the most damaging and intense hurricanes on record to make landfall in the State of Louisiana. More specifically, Hurricane Ida is the worst storm to directly impact Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes since Hurricane Betsy, 56 years ago in 1965.
Bishop Fabre announced that Very Rev. Mark Toups, V.G., had agreed to return from his sabbatical early to serve as the diocesan disaster response coordinator during this time. The following week, Mark W. Bolton was named as coordinator of the diocesan Hurricane Disaster Response Team.
Very Rev. Mark Toups, V.G., developed the diocese’s overall disaster response plan, dividing it into three phases: Respond. Reopen. Recover.
The goal of Phase I: Respond is to make sure that the basic needs of the people are met, including safety, shelter, food, pastoral care, human interaction, basic healthcare, hope and confidence.
The goal of Phase II: Reopen is moving toward long term solutions, such as “livable housing,” reliable food sources, students at “a” school (may not be at their building), church parishes reopen with essential services, diocesan entities reopen with essential services, basic healthcare, hope and confidence.
The goal of Phase III: Recover is to establish an environment where the people of the diocese are stable and self-sufficient, which includes long-term housing solutions, long-term food sources, long-term educational solutions, long-term spiritual and pastoral care, and honorable closure.
According to Bolton, the diocese has received a tremendous amount of support from many outside agencies. One day after Hurricane Ida made landfall, the Diocese of Lafayette’s Catholic Charities of Acadiana staff were already here providing hot meals to the people of the diocese, as well as giving diocesan officials recommendations on disaster response organizational and support efforts. They also offered us use of a warehouse in their diocese to store supplies and materials, and they took care of some of the logistics of the recovery process, says Bolton, adding that since then they have also been assisting the diocese with cleanup efforts and supplies distributions.
Staff from the Diocese of Lake Charles’ Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana also responded early on with initial guidance based on what they had learned from their response to last year’s devastating hurricanes in their area. They also distributed supplies and hot meals to some of the hardest hit church parishes of the diocese.
Bolton says that Jennifer Dyer, director of Disaster Response for Catholic Charities USA, spent a week with diocesan leadership, offering valuable recommendations for the “road ahead” during the diocese’s transition from Phase I: Response to Phase II: Reopen. Dyer also put them in contact with other organizations that had valuable resources to offer aid.
Kim Burgo, vice-president of Disaster Operations for Catholic Charities USA, also spent a few days here assisting with the diocese’s support efforts during the beginning of Phase II of the disaster response plan.
“The people from Catholic Charities USA were a phenomenal support group for us from early on, sharing with us their best practices and lessons learned while responding to a disaster such as this one,” says Bolton.
Some of the other groups from outside of the diocese that assisted during the response phase are the American Red Cross, the United Way, World Central Kitchen/Dickie Brennan’s Restaurant Group (provided over 30,000 hot meals); Hands On New Orleans; multiple other groups of businesses, groups of friends, or groups of parishioners from other parts of the country organized themselves and traveled to different church parishes throughout the affected area to cook hot meals for those in need; Cajun Navy Ground Force (provided general supplies, including gas, and helped distribute these supplies to various areas). They were also very involved in cleanup and rebuilding efforts in some of the hardest hit areas of the diocese.
Premier Catering and Events, a local company owned by Grady Verret, recently began providing two meals daily in four of the hardest hit areas of the diocese including Dulac, Theriot, Montegut and Pointe-aux-Chenes.
Numerous entities from near and far donated much needed supplies to the diocese including: Goodwill Industries: 1,000 tarps and 20 pallets of water; Second Harvest Foodbank: canned goods; Cross Catholic Outreach: 40 pallets of mixed supplies – disaster blankets, hand sanitizer, canned goods, etc.; Food for the Poor: 20 pallets of non-perishable food items and water.
Kenny Wood, of K&B Industries, donated a 25,000 sq. ft. warehouse and forklift for the diocese to store and organize incoming supplies, as well as offering logistical support.
In addition to collaborating with other organizations and organizing relief efforts, some of the ways Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux (CCH-T) responded to the immediate needs of the people following the hurricane, reports Bolton, was by delivering hot meals beginning the day after the storm, roof tarping coordinated through crisis response efforts and Catholic Charities of Acadiana; and daily deliveries of clean up supplies (rakes, brooms, shovels, trash bags, bleach, clean up kits and hygiene kits) to various church parishes.
To better meet the needs of individual church parishes, Point of Distribution (POD) liaisons were assigned to the Disaster Response Team. These POD liaisons began meeting daily with Office of Parish Support staff to assess storm related needs in each church parish.
As part of Phase II of the diocese’s disaster response plan, Parish Recovery Assistance Centers (P-RACS) were established and positioned in certain church parishes throughout the diocese. Case workers were assigned to these centers to meet with people who have been affected by the hurricane and document their damages, assist them in registering for federal and state programs, and connect them with vital community resources. P-RACS are located in the following church parishes: Holy Savior, Lockport; St. Joseph, Chauvin; St. Eloi, Theriot; Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Golden Meadow; and Holy Family, Grand Caillou.
Bolton says the greatest need that the people of the diocese are facing at the moment is the need for temporary housing, which will be a major part of what will be addressed in Phase II of the diocesan disaster response plan.
As of press time, CCH-T has coordinated the distribution of 150,000 hot meals (does not include meals that were cooked in parishes that did not coordinate through Catholic Charities); 5,000 tarps; 250 cleaning kits (ongoing); 3,000 cases of water; 5,000 gallons of gas, as well as distributing other supplies such as hand sanitizer, DampRid (mold remediation), over 400 mops/brooms/flat-head shovels, canned food, diapers, paper towels, toilet paper, muck and gut kits, cleaning supplies, hygiene kits, bleach, other mold remediation supplies and generators.
