Today, pickup trucks, trailers, vans, and flatbed trucks full of supplies from Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky met up with us at the Church in Covington. We were headed towards Bogalusa, LA. Bogalusa is a very small, very poor town that had been overlooked when the larger relief orginizations came through the area.
This was really eye opening for me. I saw that a fairly small group of people could go into a community and have a huge impact.
We had seen the news reports about violence and looting. We were even told that relief orginizations would not go into these neighborhoods without an armed guard! We weren't sure what we were going to find. I'm happy to say that the whole time we were there we felt completely safe. We did not experience any hostility or feel threatened at all! The people of this community welcomed us with open arms, big smiles, and a few tears of joy.
You could see the excitement in these children's eyes as you hand them food, clothing, books, crayons, water, or candy.
They were happy just to have someone there to show them that they were not forgotten.
One of the hot items was new white T-shirts. These people had gone almost two weeks without laundry and it was over 90 degrees and muggy each of the days that we were there.
Sometimes, just letting someone know that you came from halfway across the states to let them know that you care about them, and that there is hope, is just as valuable as the supplies you brought with you.
After a long day of unloading supplies our team gathered togeter with Pastor Troy's team, and the people from Ohio, and Kentucky for a group picture. We would be back to a different neighborhood in the same community the next day with more trucks, and more supplies.
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