URGENT ALERT from Rural Louisiana
Sept. 13, 2008Dear Friends and Supporters,
Southern Mutual Help Association has made contact with Louisiana's U. S. delegation, having just spoken with Rep. Charles Boustany, Jr. Southern Mutual Help Association has two major concerns:
(1) We need to get the national media to cover the Louisiana coastal communities' story – all the rural communities along coastal Louisiana are in a catastrophic situation.
(2) SMHA’s position has been and continues to be that Congress needs to pass by unanimous consent a National Disaster Recovery Bond.
-SMHA
Sept. 12, 2008
Coastal Louisiana is under siege from the surge of Hurricane Ike. A field report just coming in from our Rural Recovery field representative Natalie Bergeron reports the levee is breaking and breaching in several places in Lower Terrebonne Parish, southwest of New Orleans, endangering whole communities of Chauvin, Dulac, Montegut and Island Road. Natalie has called for emergency help from our partner, Mary Lee Orr of LEAN, to try to get life vests for the volunteers from the communities who are trying to reinforce the levees with sandbags.
Catastrophic developments taking place in the Cameron Parish rural communities on the northeast quadrant of Hurricane Ike from surge waters. Endangered communities are Cameron, Johnson Bayou, Grand Lake, Hackberry, Creole and others. Several staging areas being used by recovery teams to rebuild after Katrina and Rita are being inundated and metal containers holding rebuilding supplies are now floating away into the bayous.
Louisiana's rural communities will need the spirit of generosity that we know exists in this country once again.
We need to be ready to rebuild Louisiana better than before! The newly built houses that SMHA and its partners completed after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina are all still standing.
MORE UPDATES WILL BE POSTED AS AVAILABLE.
2:15 CDT - 9/12/08
Dear friends and supporters,
SMHA just received a report from our field representative in Plaquemines Parish where the Mississippi River runs through the center of that parish. Levees are being topped in Phoenix and Pointe a la Hache endangering numerous communities. The Pointe a la Hache ferry is not operating since it sank during Hurricane Gustav. Only the ferry at Belle Chase is running for emergency use only. The levees on the Gulf side of Plaquemines Parish are being topped with the early surge of Hurricane Ike. The major surge comes at 2:00 in the morning. During Hurricane Gustav those levees had been reinforced by helicopter drops of gigantic sandbags trying to hold that levee.
MORE UPDATES FROM THE FIELD WILL BE POSTED AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.
Hurricane Gustav - Initial Field Assessment
On Sept. 1, 2008, Hurricane Gustav cut a destructive swath across rural southeast Louisiana. SMHA staff, which had been evacuated to safe locations during the approach of the storm, has already returned to its offices and immediately began organizing assessments of the hardest hit areas. The first of these comes from rural, coastal Lafourche Parish in the heart of Cajun country, from SMHA adjunct staff member Wilma Subra.September 7, 2008
On September 6, 2008 I preformed a damage assessment post-Gustav tour of La. 1 from Raceland to Fourchon, in Lafourche Parish.
The area was damaged by Hurricane Gustav on September 1, 2008. The eye of Gustav came on shore in Terrebonne Bay and proceeded to Cocodrie and Houma, in Terrebonne Parish. The eye of the Hurricane was just west of La. 1 and the Bayou Lafourche area. That put Bayou Lafourche in the upper right hand quadrant of the Hurricane, which is the most severe quadrant of a hurricane...
Click here to read Wilma Subra's complete report...
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Impact Louisiana's Rural Poor
Teche Ridge: Affordable Housing, Traditional Neighborhood Design
SMHA's $150 million Teche Ridge development is designed to change the face of affordable housing in the Acadiana region of Louisiana by integrating affordable units among market-rate units in such a way that the affordable homes are indistinguishable from the homes surrounding them.
Click here to visit the Teche Ridge web site.
Philanthropy After the Hurricanes
SMHA's President, Executive Director and Co-Founder Lorna Bourg was a featured speaker at the recent PRI Makers Network Conference in New Orleans, titled "After the Hurricanes: Reflections on Philanthropic Capital at Work."
The PRI Makers Network is an association of foundations and other social investors interested in maximizing their philanthropic resources through strategic investments -- including program-related investments (PRI) -- in their mission areas. The second national PRI Conference took place at the Loews New Orleans Hotel January 29-31, 2008. More than 200 foundation staff and trustees were on hand. Participants hailed from large and small foundations from around the country, and represented some of the most innovative thinkers in philanthropy today. Conferees were able to participate in learning tours exposing them to ways in which resources are being reinvested in their city.
Click to view video of PRI Conference 2008: After the Hurricanes on FORA.tv
In an interview on the Kasey Kowars Show about his book, Pegasus Descending, best-selling author James Lee Burke said contributions to SMHA go "directly to help the poorest of the poor and the people most affected by the storm." Listen to a 2.5-minute excerpt from Burke's July 19 interview with Kasey Kowars - click here for WMA or click here for MP3. For the complete interview about Burke's latest book, go to www.kaseykowars.com.)
SMHA: A Passion for Justice
Since it was founded in 1969, Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA) has helped people develop strong, healthy, prosperous rural communities in Louisiana. Our special focus is with distressed rural communities whose livelihoods are interdependent with our land and waters. We work primarily with agricultural and pervasively poor communities, women and people of color. We help build rural communities through people's growth in their own empowerment and the just management of resources.SMHA's foundation was — and still is — our strong commitment to ending poverty and a passion for justice.
Recent SMHA News
IBERIABANK Gives First of Annual $25,000 GiftClick here for full story
Home Dedicated in Creole
Click here for full story
Rural Recovery 3 Year Report Features Original Art by Local Artist
Click here for full story
Click here for full list of recent news items from SMHA
SMHA's Programs
Southern Mutual Help's work is clustered in two broad areas: Building Rural Communities and Life Quality. Although listed as separate program areas, SMHA's work is holistic and interrelated. Programs and initiatives are intertwined, building upon, supporting, and reinforcing each other. All are programs designed to help people help themselves and provide on-ramps to the economic mainstream.Click here to learn more about SMHA's programs
Contact Us
Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.3602 Old Jeanerette Road
New Iberia, LA 70563
337-367-3277
FAX: 337-367-3279
Email: smha@southernmutualhelp.org
Return to top of page
