• Philip Burn

Texas EDS Team Serves 20,000 Meals in First Two Days of Service in Louisiana

Baton Rouge, LA (September 2, 2021) – The Texas Incident Command team, based just outside of Baton Rouge, has served more than 20,000 meals in the first two full days of active response after Hurricane Ida. Mobile units have delivered meals, water, and MREs to multiple communities without power throughout southern Louisiana.

Seventeen mobile units load up with meals and supplies each morning before heading out for a long day of service. Teams are driving to affected communities as far as 90-minute from the command post. As of Thursday morning, the Gonzales Incident Post has served 20,814 meals, 14,248 drinks, and 5,945 snacks.

“Our staff, volunteers, and operations are really finding our rhythm and we are seeing great service taking place. It typically takes a couple of days for everything to fall into place,” said Alvin Migues, Emergency Disaster Services Director for The Salvation Army. “These are long days for our crews. They report at 8 AM and don’t return until 7 PM. We’re seeing that most of our mobile units are serving until they run out of food each day.”

On Thursday, mobile units will be serving in Hammond (2 units), Houma (2 units), Kenner (2 units), Livingston Parrish (2 units), Napoleonville (2 units), Baton Rouge, Thibodaux, La Place, Raceland, Larose, Morgan City, Amelia, Cut Off, Bourg, and two Polaris ATV units will be roaming in the Gonzales area.  

In Baton Rouge, a mobile kitchen will be stationed at Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, 9700 Scenic Hwy. For additional assistance in Baton Rouge please call (225) 355-4483. Assistance and food are not available at the Incident Command Post.

Linda, a trained EDS volunteer from Lufkin, Texas, is serving on a mobile kitchen this week. “We’ve seen lots of trees and power lines down, and people working on their homes and properties as we’ve traveled to our serving location,” said Linda. “We set up at a gas station that was closed and without power, right across from a neighborhood. It didn’t take long for word to spread and in no time at all there was a steady stream of people from the neighborhood coming for a meal. I served one family of twelve who hadn’t had a hot meal since Sunday. They were so grateful for the help from The Salvation Army and wanted to be sure that we’d be back tomorrow.”

“We anticipate that meal counts will continue to rise in the coming days and will have a second field kitchen operational by end of day, Thursday,” said Migues. “Our staff and volunteers are in great spirits and are committed to meet the needs in communities impacted by Hurricane Ida. The Salvation Army was active in many of these communities before the storm, and we’ll be there long after.”

To make a financial donation to support ongoing Hurricane Ida relief efforts, go to helpsalvationarmy.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY. For the latest disaster response information, go to www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org and watch for regular updates on our social media pages at www.facebook.com/salvationarmytexas/ and www.twitter.com/salarmytx