How to Help: Hurricane Ida

There’s nowhere quite like Louisiana. This is something people say about their homes; something people say about precious places all over the globe. But it means more here, and I’ll tell you why. This place we live is an enigma: possessing some of the most wondrous, weird, and beautiful natural ecosystems on the planet, which coexist with industry in a complex web of human economic reliance and environmental strain. Its people run the gamut from wildly eccentric to hyper-traditional, and wonderful things pour forth from these wells. Its communities—from the boisterous life of New Orleans to the wild, remote bayous—tie people down tightly. No matter how far we wander, our homes here become a part of us in ways so complicated and true that we always come back, at least for a little while. All of this is tied up in the fact that this place, our home, is one of the world’s most fragile—most likely to shift, to change, to crumble, to disappear.

Hurricanes are a part of our existence here, but they never do get easier. Hurricane Ida's recent hit to Southeast Louisiana has left hundreds of people in need of immediate emergency rescue, entire communities looking at overwhelming structural damage, and weeks of large-scale power outages. Here we offer a list of ways to contribute to recovery efforts—prioritizing community-centric and mutual aid organizations. In the middle of a national pandemic, resources are especially strained, and these communities need help more than ever. Part of the mystique of this place we call home is the way we care for each other, the way we are connected to our neighbors—even the ones we’ll never meet. Because we share something remarkable living here: an incomprehensible determination to remain and to protect our place, even when it means starting from the ground up, again.  

Cajun Navy Relief & Rescue: This group of volunteers works to provide immediate rescue and relief during natural disasters by integrating civilian volunteers into the Incident Command Structure. Officially organized in the wake of South Louisiana's 2016 floods, the nonprofit has served following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Florence, Michael, Barry, Tropical Storm Imelda, and Hurricane Laura. They have also aided in missing child search and rescue. People can arrange to donate supplies or funds through their website. 

St. Bernard Project: This national New Orleans-based disaster relief organization formed after Hurricane Katrina is already on the ground in Hurricane Ida-impacted communities. A $100 donation will provide PPE to ten team members; $250 will fund three kits to muck/gut flooded homes; $500 supports contact-free client services technology; $1,000 deploys a team of AmeriCorps members to support disaster recovery.  

United Way Southeast Louisiana: For over eighty years, UWSELA has been dedicated to strengthening its community by targeting community needs with a focus on education, economic mobility, health, and basic needs. Donations to the Hurricane Ida Relief Fund will support immediate relief efforts, long term rebuilding, and community grants to support partner organizations providing direct disaster recovery services. 

The Mutual Aid Response Network: Led by Imagine Water Works, this group of Louisiana residents activates during natural and manmade disasters. All donations to the organization's Hurricane Ida Relief Fund will go directly towards supporting relief efforts in Southeast Louisiana, with a commitment to transparency and prioritizing the funding, leadership, and safety of BIPOC. 

Creative Relief Louisiana: Through the Creative Relief Louisiana website, supporters of the region's arts can donate directly to Louisiana's nine Regional Arts Councils. Donations will go directly to the councils, who will distribute funds to individual artists or arts organizations in need. 

Foundation for Louisiana: A Black-led foundation founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this organization has invested $55 million in more than 250 mission-critical nonprofits working across the state towards building a more just Louisiana by advancing racial justice and engaging communities in the process. The group has mobilized to help with Hurricane Ida relief, and donations will help them provide grants to indigenous and mutual aid groups that serve coastal communities. The organization has already pledged the first $10,000 raised to the First People's Conservation Council, the Mutual Aid Response Network, and Southern Solidarity. 

Another Gulf Is Possible: A women-of-color led, grassroots collaborative centered on cultural organizing, direct action, advocacy, Another Gulf is Possible has deployed two Just Recovery vehicles to provide mutual aid for essential needs, repairs, and supplies for vulnerable families and communities impacted by Hurricane Ida. 

Feed the Second Line:  Organized by the Krewe of Red Beans, Feed the Second Line is dedicated to building a safety net for culture bearers in New Orleans. The organization buys and delivers groceries to creatives in need to help preserve their household wealth. During September and October, all donations the organization receives will go towards assisting folks recovering from Hurricane Ida. 

All Hands and Hearts Smart Response: A volunteer-powered disaster relief organization, All Hands and Hearts' Disaster Assessment and Response Team works with community members and partners to establish what is needed in affected areas. Before Ida made landfall, they had already deployed their Disaster Assessment Response Team in Texas to be ready for immediate response in the aftermath. 

Direct Relief: This humanitarian aid organization was founded in 1948 by refugee war immigrants to the United States and is currently active in all fifty states and over eighty countries. It practices an approach of direct and targeted assistance provided in a manner that works to respect and involve the people served, and has been an active force in the wake of hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, including Katrina and Laura. In the wake of Ida, the organization is already set up in New Orleans and the greater region, offering medications and medical supplies commonly requested after disasters, including prescription medications for diabetes and hypertension. 

Mercy Chefs: Founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Mercy Chefs provides professionally prepared, restaurant-quality meals for victims, volunteers, and first responders in national emergencies and natural disasters using self-sustaining kitchens able to run in areas without power or clean water. Right now, two of the organization's kitchens are set up in the Greater New Orleans area. 

Operation USA: This privately-funded Los Angeles-based international disaster relief and development agency works to help communities overcome the effects of disasters, disease, violence, and endemic poverty. Donations (specified for Hurricane Ida relief) will enable the organization to deliver in-kind material aid and to distribute cash grants to community-based organizations in impacted communities. 

United Way Southeast Louisiana: For over eighty years, UWSELA has been dedicated to strengthening its community by targeting community needs with a focus on education, economic mobility, health, and basic needs. Donations to the Hurricane Ida Relief Fund will support immediate relief efforts, long term rebuilding, and community grants to support partner organizations providing direct disaster recovery services. 

The Mutual Aid Response Network: Led by Imagine Water Works, this group of Louisiana residents activates during natural and manmade disasters. All donations to the organization's Hurricane Ida Relief Fund will go directly towards supporting relief efforts in Southeast Louisiana, with a commitment to transparency and prioritizing the funding, leadership, and safety of BIPOC. 

Foundation for Louisiana: A Black-led foundation founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this organization has invested $55 million in more than 250 mission-critical nonprofits working across the state towards building a more just Louisiana by advancing racial justice and engaging communities in the process. The group has mobilized to help with Hurricane Ida relief, and donations will help them provide grants to indigenous and mutual aid groups that serve coastal communities. The organization has already pledged the first $10,000 raised to the First People's Conservation Council, the Mutual Aid Response Network, and Southern Solidarity. 

Greater New Orleans Foundation: As New Orleans' philanthropic foundation, GNOF has long been dedicated to serving Louisiana communities even beyond New Orleans. In response to Hurricane Ida, the organization has activated its Disaster Response and Restoration Fund to provide assistance to those most in need. 

Second Harvest Food Bank: Leading the fight against hunger in South Louisiana, Second Harvest provides support to over seven hundred community partners and programs across twenty three parishes through food distribution programs, community kitchen meal service, nutrition education, and public benefits assistance. Every $1 donated to its Hurricane Ida relief fund provides four meals to someone in need. 

Catholic Charities of Acadiana: Long dedicated to serving the poor in its communities through feeding programs, housing assistance, and more, Catholic Charities' Hurricane Ida fund will be used to provide immediate disaster response in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida and in assisting in the long term rebuilding of the SELA community. The organization has already deployed staff, assets, and volunteer teams—along with other resources—to directly support the most affected areas in the region. 

Team Rubicon USA: Team Rubicon serves communities by mobilizing veterans to leverage their skills and experience to help people prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. The organization is currently mobilizing throughout South Louisiana in areas most impacted by the storm, and donations will go towards relief efforts. 

Operation BBQ Relief: After a tornado struck Joplin, Missouri in 2011, volunteers from competition BBQ teams from eight states rallied to help feed displaced families, police, fire fighters, National Guard, and other emergency personnel. Now, Operation BBQ Relief continues to respond to natural disasters all over the country, and is currently serving in the South Louisiana region in the wake of Ida. 

Project Hope: A national organization dedicated to empowering health care workers around the globe who are serving vulnerable communities. Project Hope has a long history of emergency response in the region, including during Hurricanes Laura and Katrina. In response to Hurricane Ida, the organization is currently distributing hygiene kits, N95 masks, and medical relief to limit the spread of COVID while relief efforts are taking place in afflicted areas. 

House of Tulip: This New Orleans organization is currently working to provide a home and community for trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) residents in the city. In response to Hurricane Ida, House of Tulip is distributing $15,000 of its donations directly back to TGNC Louisianans impacted by the hurricane. 

If you, reader, know of any other great organizations to donate to that we have not included, please let us know at jordan@countryroadsmag.com.