The state of Louisiana is no stranger to natural disaster. We’ve seen our fair share of destruction at the hands of Mother Nature. We all remember the images and pain of seeing the Ninth Ward in New Orleans completely decimated after Katrina. Even as recently as the flooding in Baton Rouge a year ago, or the rising waters in North Louisiana as the Red River swelled and affected thousands from Shreveport/Bossier City south.
In all cases, families were left with little to nothing of their own and forced to start over. These events resonate with people across the state and rally them to help where they can. For those that endure the hardships of Mother Nature’s relentless gaze, they become the first ones to act when another community has suffered at her hands.
Such is the case across the state, as the “Cajun Navy” has already descended upon the Houston metroplex after Harvey’s floodwaters filled the city, and thousands have collected goods and supplies for donation to area shelters. The student-athletes at Louisiana College have come together outside of their fields of play to do their part for the people of South Texas, many of them having lived through the recent flooding in Louisiana.
Zac Barrient, a senior receiver on the LC football team from just outside of Baton Rouge in Mandeville, took the initiative and organized the “Wildcat Football Relief Handoff” in an effort to help teammates and extended family in the affected area. The LC women’s soccer team hosted a food and water drive at their two season opening home matches last week to collect items, and the softball team has started a collection drive that will run for the next few weeks gathering food, water, clothes, and other items for delivery to the area.
“These major relief organizations are dealing with large areas and a lot of people,” Barrient said. “So I can see how they may not be able to help everyone, but I thought with everyone trying to help in their own certain way that we could help someone.”
The Wildcat Relief Handoff has raised over $3,000 to date via their youcaring.com account that any and everyone can donate through. They have also collected goods and supplies from people in the area and some grocery stores have donated multiple cases of water and other food items for the effort.
“We’re not putting any stipulation on what people can give,” Barrient said. “We’re taking anything, because at this point in the game, anything is going to help, it’s not just one set thing.”
The Wildcat football team will be taking the donated supplies to the Houston area this weekend, their off-week on the schedule. Thanks to the local U-Haul Rental, and the donation of a truck to transport the items, they will carry with them all the items, including the ones collected by the soccer team, to the families, friends, and neighbors of the student-athletes from the area.
Like Barrient, senior first baseman Mattie Stine, who is helping lead the charge for the softball team and is from the coastal town of Hackberry, knows the kind of impact that even the smallest amount of help can have on people.
“It hits you in the heart when you see these other people going through the things that you’ve experience on a first hand basis,” Stine said. “It’s not easy to see your hometown taken out by a hurricane and there’s not really anything you can do about it and to watch them have to rebuild over years and years. I still have family in Hackberry that are trying to rebuild from the hurricane that hit us almost 10 years ago.”
The softball team at LC is well known in the area for their community service, as many of the players volunteer their limited free time by serving as Fellowship of Christian Athletes leaders, tutors, and visiting shelters and nursing homes before and during their season.
“For us it’s always been about more than just playing softball,” Stine said. “We’re always looking for ways that we can go out and be the hand and feet for God’s people.”
In addition to the on campus and internet based projects, all the Wildcats have been helping a local church load donations they have received onto trucks for delivery, over the last few days. The effort by these projects and student-athletes is just one example of the best that this generation has to offer our society now and in the future.
If you would like to help the Wildcat student-athletes in their mission to support the people and communities of South Texas, including the families of current LC students, donate by searching “Wildcat Football Relief” on youcaring.com, or bring your food and supplies to the softball field on the Louisiana College campus for their trip to Houston in a few weeks.
Source: http://www.lcwildcats.net/news/2017/9/7/general-lc-cares-help-for-harvey.aspx?path=gen
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