Flooding Louisiana with Love

With the help of generous businesses and individuals around Crittenden County, Arkansas State University Mid-South students and staff recently filled a college truck with needed supplies and delivered it to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to assist victims of the devastating flooding in the Louisiana region.

The items collected including cleaning supplies, clothes, baby products and emergency care kits were delivered by ASU Mid-South maintenance staff to the Louisiana Multi-Agency Warehouse in Baton Rouge being operated by Louisiana Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD).

An estimated 150 thousand homes in Louisiana received damage during the massive late August flood event. A victim of flooding some years ago, Randy Webb, Physical Plant Director at ASU Mid-South whose department spearheaded the collection drive said: “I know what it is like to lose your home in a flood, and when I saw what the people of Louisiana were going through, I knew the college could help in some way.”

“In times of disaster, you think about helping to make people’s lives whole again. We called our collection drive Flood Louisiana with Love. Collecting these needed items was our way of sending love and compassion to the people of Louisiana. We wanted to make sure that displaced families felt our support and knew that we cared,” added Dr. Debra West, Chancellor of ASU Mid-South.

In addition to donations from students and staff of ASU Mid-South, others from the community stepped in to help. Awesome Products whose West Memphis plant produces high quality consumer cleaning products, donated three pallets of bleach and cleaning supplies. “We made contact with the manager of the West Memphis plant, Mr. Sanjay Sata, and they were extremely generous,” noted Dr. West.

Another large donation came from Family Dollar Warehouse in West Memphis. General Manager, Brian Clark and Department Manager Tonya Bretz assisted in filling the truck with a variety of Family Dollar products including water and paper products. “We were very grateful to receive the support from the Family Dollar Warehouse proving once again how area businesses support the college’s efforts,” added Webb.

After just over two weeks of collection, a Louisiana state flag donated by West Memphis resident Elmer Ray was attached to the outside of the filled truck and the truck was driven to the Baton Rouge warehouse by maintenance staff members, Eddie Barrentine and Robert Fountain. “I thought it was a nice symbol of our support to have a Louisiana flag affixed on the truck,” said Ray, owner of Ray-Ad Specialties.

“When I found out about the project, I decided to donate the flag to make the statement that in this country it doesn’t matter what state you live in, we support others who need our help.”