The Diocese of Louisiana is now accepting out-of-state volunteer teams to help with mucking out and gutting flooded homes in eastern Louisiana. Current work site locations are in Baton Rouge, Clinton, Denham Springs, and St. Francisville.
Organizers prefer groups register together as a team rather than as individual volunteers. The Diocese of Louisiana’s Disaster Coordinator, Deacon Elaine Clements, noted that the largest teams that could be easily accommodated at this point are teams of about 14, although it could be possible to accommodate a larger team. Be sure to coordinate with the contact given on the Diocese of Louisiana’s volunteer info page. Housing is available for out-of-state teams, though the housing locations are at a distance – as far as two hours – from the flooded areas, so teams will need to travel from their housing site to the work site.
This type of volunteering is hot, stuffy, and physical work. Volunteers need to wear long pants, jeans, work boots and dust masks or respirators, and the damaged homes don’t have working AC. The minimum age of volunteers for this type of work is 18.
On this map, the Diocese of Western Louisiana is on the left, and the Diocese of Louisiana is on the right, at the ‘toe’ of Louisiana’s boot-shape. The Diocese of Western Louisiana is not yet ready to accept out-of-state volunteer teams
