The Cajun Navy Ground Force hit the ground running and headed to Houma and Thibodaux Tuesday to assist in relief and repair efforts. Its purpose: to essentially bring light to the folks of Houma who really need that beacon.
"Are ya'll ready to cut some trees?"
"We're just caravan down. Do ya'll have Zello?"
"Be safe. We have equipment for ya'll to wear. So we have hardhats."
"Ya'll be careful driving. be alert, look for powerlines. Trees, anything in your way."
"Any questions?"
"We're gonna roll."
"So we're actually going into Houma where there's a tremendous need, between Houma, Raceland, Thibodaux, Donaldsonville, that whole region needs a lot of help right now," explained Cajun Navy founder Rob Gaudet just minutes before his caravan of six vehicles headed out. "We'll probably the only first-responder, non-profit type organization there for a while because of how it's geographically located."
Part of the reason is that right now--- help is "Not" coming from New Orleans; the Crescent City has its own issues. So the Cajun Navy Ground Force--- already with a prep team in place set up at the Wal-Mart in Houma-- rounded up a second set of volunteers...who this morning came to this Lafayette staging area with tools, supplies and giving hearts.
"There's a lot of stuff going on out there, a lot of destruction," said Cajun Navy volunteer Rex Judice. "Spoke with somebody in our team that's out there; looks like they've got a lot of trees down, a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot of people who need to be helped."
"The route's clear all the way, all the way to Wal-Mart, we're gonna go to the Wal-Mart and get started from there, span out and start clearing trees," offers Gaudet to his group.
Volunteers for this mission of the Cajun Navy Ground Force came from both local and Texas sources, and everyone has something to contribute to the four-day relief effort. Founder Rob Gaudet has been in touch with Houma officials since Wednesday, and he says, when the Force arrives, it will immediately work with recovery efforts already in place.
"So we don't go in and 'cowboy' try to run things; we go in as part of a system and we fill a need, based on what they tell us."
Rob says there are other ways to help if you can't get out there. Perhaps dropping off some materials, some supplies-- those are always very welcome; and of course, financial donations are also very helpful. For more information on that go to the Cajun Navy Facebook page.
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