“DESPITE ALL THAT, WE ARE STILL ABLE TO GO BACK AND SERVE” The United Way of St. Charles Parish
John Dias distributes food after Hurricane Ida.
The United Way of St. Charles Parish (UWSC) has five staff members. During Hurricane Ida, three of them lost their homes. Their office was destroyed, too, but the team got to work within 72 hours of the storm. They set up in the River Parishes Community College building and got ready to connect their 55,000 community members with the supplies and support they needed. The UWSC team was devoted. One member of the team didn’t leave when the day was done. The heat was stifling, the power was out, and the building was damaged, but supply donations were coming in from all across the country. She wanted to be there to receive them. “She literally decided to just stay here on a blow-up mattress with her two children,” explains John Dias, Executive Director of UWSC. “So that when a truckload of water from Tennessee showed up at two in the morning, someone was here—because don’t forget, phones were out. Even though this young lady and her kids could have lived with family and relatives, she chose to stay for weeks to