October 7, 2021
Bayou Community Foundation Announces $1.29 Million in New Grants for Hurricane Ida Relief and Recovery
$1.8 million in relief and recovery services funded by Foundation to date.
(HOUMA, LA) The Bayou Community Foundation (BCF) announced a second round of grants today totaling $1.29 million to 17 local nonprofits for critical relief and recovery assistance provided to residents of Lafourche Parish, Terrebonne Parish and Grand Isle in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Since September 5, one week after the storm made landfall in Lafourche Parish, the Foundation’s Bayou Recovery Fund for Hurricane Ida Relief has funded a total of nearly $1.8 million in grants for distribution of hot meals, nonperishable food, water, gasoline, clothing, and hygiene and cleaning supplies, as well as temporary housing, medical programs, and classroom supplies and equipment. Bayou Community Foundation is working to raise $10 million in donations to the Bayou Recovery Fund to support our heavily impacted Bayou Region through the rebuilding process.
“Thanks to the compassion and generosity of individual and corporate donors around the country, Bayou Community Foundation has been able to act swiftly and effectively over the past five weeks to fund programs that are filling the most urgent needs of our residents like food, water, and essential supplies. Our local nonprofits are doing amazing work to help the suffering among us,” says President Henry Lafont. “We know this is just the beginning, though. As we turn the corner from relief to recovery, the Bayou Recovery Fund is positioned to help address longer-term needs in Lafourche, Terrebonne and Grand Isle like the housing crisis we now face and the mental health needs that we expect to come.”
Bayou Community Foundation announced the following grants today totaling $1,297,760:
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- Catholic Community Center – $13,000 for supplies, generators, A/C units for Grand Isle residents
- Crossroads Pregnancy Resource Center – $20,000 for baby supplies, assistance to new mothers
- Friends of Grand Isle – $50,000 for First Responders Emergency Assistance
- Gulf Coast Baptist Church – $10,000 for distribution of meals, food, supplies in Golden Meadow
- Hache Grant Association – $30,000 for mobile laundry and shower facility in Pointe-aux-Chenes
- Holy Family Catholic Church, Dulac – $33,000 for generators, A/C units, tents, supplies for residents
- Lafourche Council on Aging – $150,000 for meals, hygiene/medical supplies, transportation for elderly
- Lafourche Education Foundation – $100,000 to help teachers replace classroom supplies, equipment
- Nicholls State University Foundation – $77,760 for emergency housing and meals for students, staff
- Plymouth Rock Baptist Church – $10,000 for food and supplies distributed in Chauvin and Houma
- SDC Foundation – $20,000 for meals, food, supplies distributed in Cut Off
- South LA Veterans Outreach – $5,500 for meals, supplies, debris clean up tools for local veterans
- Terrebonne Council on Aging – $100,000 for medical, hygiene supplies for elderly, essential equipment
- Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence – $100,000 to help teachers replace classroom supplies, equipment
- United Houma Nation – $53,000 for a refrigerated truck to deliver fresh food to tribal members
- Lady of the Sea General Hospital – $25,500 for trailer to temporarily house medical rehabilitation services
- Terrebonne Economic Development Foundation – $500,000 for temporary housing site under development for 50 displaced families, first responders, essential workers.
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“With this grant, LEF will be able to help our Lafourche schools that were hardest hit by Hurricane Ida replenish much-needed classroom supplies and equipment for our teachers and students across the parish,” said Paula Rome, Executive Director of the Lafourche Education Foundation, which received a $100,000 grant, along with the Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence.The Friends of Grand Isle received a $50,000 grant to help meet emergency needs of first responders on the island.
“This grant from the Bayou Community Foundation provides critical relief to our first responders who have so selflessly served Grand Isle in the wake of Hurricane Ida. The Friends of Grand Isle are committed to providing financial relief to our residents and businesses to build a stronger Grand Isle,” said Bob Stewart, Ph.D., Vice President of Friends of Grand Isle.
A $30,000 grant to Hache Grant Association will provide a mobile shower and laundry facility for residents of coastal Pointe-aux-Chenes.
“This grant will help us facilitate our purpose, which is to enhance quality of life in Terrebonne Parish. After Hurricane Ida, quality of life became the most basic and fundamental in nature. With this grant, we will be able to provide some humble comfort to a devastated region in our home parish,” said Hache’s Manny Merlos.
Donors to Bayou Community Foundation’s Bayou Recovery Fund for Hurricane Ida Relief include hundreds of individuals, foundations and corporations, such as the Mary and Al Family Foundation, Shell, Chevron, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of LA Foundation, BP, The Gheens Foundation, Saints and Pelicans Gulf Coast Renewal Fund, United Health Foundation, Humana Foundation, Federal Home Loan Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Enbridge, Iberia Bank/First Horizon Foundation, Weeks Marine, and many more.
You can learn more about the Bayou Recovery Fund and make tax-deductible donations at https://www.bayoucf.org/disaster-recovery/.