At least 150 homes were significantly damaged in St. Bernard Parish from an EF3 tornado that killed one person in Arabi. Michael Williamson, CEO of the United Way of Southeast Louisiana says they are collecting basic needs items and distributing them to those in need.
“Like personal hygiene products, baby diapers, formula, adult diapers too. We have added school supplies to the list because we know our young learners have lost school materials and supplies,” said Williamson.
Williamson said within hours of the tornado they launched a link on their website to collect donations and received a tremendous outpouring from all over. There you can find a list of supplies to drop off at their New Orleans office or make a monetary donation.
“It’s probably the most effective way to help because we can pivot to meet whatever the need is using the financial resources and we can stretch a dollar too. So, we can always take your dollar and leverage it amongst our business partners,” said Williamson.
Williamson said the tornado only made things worse for an area of the state that is already hurting. He said a recent study by the United Way indicated as much as 60% of the households in the area were already struggling with basic needs like…
“Housing, food, transportation, childcare. So you can imagine something like a tornado which creates huge economic stress for those families has just exacerbated an issue that was already there,” said Williamson.
Williamson said 100% of the proceeds collected from the fund will go towards aiding those affected by Tuesday’s storms.
To make a donation visit UnitedWaySELA.org.
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