A church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, about 589 miles from Houma, Louisiana, is requesting donations to assist those who lost their belongings in Hurricane Ida.
Trenell and Shelby Parfait, residents of Tennessee and whose family lives in Houma and Dulac, decided there was something they needed to do for back home.
"Most of my family is there, including my dad, brother and sisters, who took a direct hit from Ida," Trenell said. "There is a lot of damage to their homes making about half of them uninhabitable. Seeing the tremendous need there, my wife and I decided we had to do something."
Shelby, who teaches about 40 vocal and piano students at the Mt. Tabor Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Murfreesboro, started to reach out to families of students for donations.
Their Pastor, Lisa Oliver, got on board to pledge support for the trip to Louisiana to deliver much needed emergency supplies to families.
"We now have a 15 foot U-haul truck full of supplies for them, including 750 bottles of water, food, cleaning supplies, clothing, beds, fully charged battery operated tools, lumber, tarps for roofs, hardware, 30 gallons of gasoline, first aid kits, etc. I also had to tow my SUV behind the truck so that I could return back to Tennessee next week since the airport was closed," he said.
Planning to arrive in Houma Friday morning, Trenell would then be commuting between Lafayette and Houma to rest and make repairs.
"We reached out to my friends and acquaintances to inform them of this endeavor, and so many people came through for us and our families in their desperate time of need," he said.
"We couldn't have made any of this happen without our amazing community here in Tennessee," said Shelby.
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