• Christopher Bryant

Verizon Partners with The Salvation Army in Historic Flooding

Baton Rouge, LA- In times of disaster, it is amazing to watch people come together and all pitch in to help in any way they can.  When historic flooding hit Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it was no different.  The Salvation Army lost 9 of their facilities in the flooding, including their main office and social service area. An organization that is known for helping others found themselves needing help.  There was nowhere to setup a command center, nowhere to take donations, and nowhere for mobile canteens that would be feeding others to setup or gather food. There was simply nowhere within their own facilities to do the work that needed to be done. The Salvation Army adapted and immediately setup in the Capital One Center in the southern part of town.  This provided a short term solution, but they still sought an area to set up a distribution and relief center.  The old Mervyn’s in the Cortana Mall provided the perfect area, but they were still in need of technology to support their incident command center.  Verizon reached out to The Salvation Army with an answer to prayer and provided a mobile communications center, complete with internet accessibility.  This particular unit, the size of a trailer that is normally pulled by a semi-truck, has been used at many disasters over the years is also available to be rented for events.  So what is the cost of renting said unit?  $75,000 a week!  You read that correctly.  Verizon made this available at no charge.  Having this unit allowed The Salvation Arm to kick into full gear and do exactly what we do best.  Serve our fellow man with the love of Christ by meeting their immediate needs.  We could not have done this on this level if it were not for such a great partnership with Verizon.  Thank you for helping us help others!