Ascension of our Lord/St. Francis of Assisi have been generous in our initial response to assist those who have been affected by Hurricane Laura, and I thank you. Seeing the smiles and tears on the faces of our neighbors give me all the more passion to continue this good work. In conversation with Diocesan officials from the Diocese of Lake Charles, several items have been identified as being of greatest need for victims of the Hurricane.
Ascension/St. Francis (along with other parishes of the Diocese of Baton Rouge) will participate in a diocesan level effort to make sure all support and donations received for hurricane relief are effectively and efficiently coordinated. We don’t want to create another natural disaster for our friends in terms of supplies! In other words, a uniform effort will allow us to collect the most helpful items and bring them to “staging” areas for the Diocese of Lake Charles without creating any further burden.
To this end, I am asking parishioners to continue to contribute as you have and as you always so generously do; consider going to Wal-Mart, Target, gas stations, Lowe’s and Home Depot and purchasing a gift card in any amount, preferably in denominations of $50 and $100 per card. We can really help make a difference if each family were able to contribute something! Place these gift cards in an envelope marked “Hurricane Laura” and return them to the parish office, the office drop-box, or place it in the collection. You can also give a cash donation that we will forward to our neighbors. Checks should be made out to Ascension of our Lord or St. Francis and add in the memo section “Hurricane Laura” and placed in an envelope marked Hurricane Laura.
We will also begin to collect helpful items to bring to our neighbors. The following items are most needed:
- Tarps and tarp nails;
- Bottled water;
- Tools (specifically rakes, hammers, crowbars, shovels);
- General Cleaning Supplies (paper towels, mops, brooms, dustpans, masks, five gallon buckets, cleaning towels, bleach, disinfectant cleaners, hand sanitizer);
- Heavy duty garbage bags;
- Heavy duty gloves;
- Fix-A-Flat cans;
- Bug spray (body and yard sprays);
- Generators and Locks
- Gas Cans
- Chain Saws
- Pole Saws
- 110 AC Units
(Please NO clothes or food items.)
Purchase any of these items and bring them to the Ascension of our Lord Parish Hall (old rectory), 716 Mississippi Street, at the following times:
Monday through Thursday – 8:00AM-12:00PM and 1:00PM-3:30PM
FRIDAYS - 8:00-12 Noon
Other delivery times can be arranged by calling the parish office first.
Ascension of our Lord will also serve as a drop-off point for goods from all of the other parishes of the Southwest Deanery. Every Wednesday, conditions and donations permitting, goods will be picked up from Ascension of our Lord and brought to a specific staging area/parish in the Diocese of Lake Charles.
Thank you for your generosity. Let’s continue to show it to our neighbors. Lake Charles, we love you!
Fr. Matt