ST. MARTIN PARISH — St. Martin Parish residents impacted by severe weather waited in their vehicles in a line wrapped around Henry Guidry Memorial Park for hours, for the food distribution.
Except for one person, who had a different means of transportation.
“I left at 4 o’clock this morning on a three wheel bicycle,” Patrick Guidroz said.
Guidroz biked from his home in Arnaudville to Henderson, which took him five hours.
“I’m still waiting for some food, but this is the best thing they ever had,” Guidroz said.
Guidroz said his home was backed up with water from the city after the tornado hit. He lost power for a few days, losing all of his refrigerated food.
“I lost the food in my freezer, and in my icebox,” Guidroz said.
“For two weeks I really didn’t have nothing to eat. I needed some water, some food, anything.”
Second Harvest Food Bank Impact Coordinator Lemel Jones said in 48 hours, they prepared to hand out groceries and essential items for 500 hundred families. She said they are always ready for hurricane season.
“We are prepared for disaster and to respond to disaster through our network, our partner agencies, which you have almost 300 throughout our region, as well as Student Network of Feeding America,” Jones said.
“So when a disaster hits, that's why you see us. Because we are ready to roll.”
An 18-wheeler was brought into the park, which Jones estimates was holding 37,000 pounds of various items.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Jones said.
“We do have a lot of produce, we also have protein, we have different various meats that are coming out. We have some snacks, we have some non-food items. We try to do a vary truck to give to the community because we know that a little bit of everything was lost, not just their food.
Jones wasn't so shocked by the turn out, but by the community getting together to volunteer.
“It’s a wonderful thing to be out here in Henderson to see all these cars, and just to see all of the people that are coming together to support," Jones said.
"We didn’t know about our volunteers and how many were gonna show up and I walked up here and there's like so many volunteers."
Volunteers came from around Acadiana, and agencies that attended included SMILE Community Action Agency and Love Acadiana.
Jones said if you are in need of emergency assistance, you can visit their warehouse at 215 E. Pinhook Rd. In Lafayette. They will then assist you with finding a partner agency in your zip code.
