Get Involved – Disaster Justice Network

As we brave the 2022 hurricane season, hundreds of people are still in tents, having braved historic rainfall and flooding, and the Tropical Storm conditions brought by Hurricane Ida. Many residents of Lake Charles, LA; Port Arthur, TX; and surrounding towns and rural areas lost their homes in the storms and have no alternative housing option..

This situation becomes exponentially more dangerous with every new disaster that ravages the area. More than 1,000 people have no roofs (FEMA-provided tarps from the first hurricane were destroyed in the second), no front doors, and no clean water. People are asking for wooden pallets to sleep on in order to avoid getting wet from sleeping on the ground at their homes. This is a housing and health emergency.

We have already procured and delivered 150 tents, and they have all been claimed. There is still a massive need for temporary shelter.

How Can You Help?

Donate

Your donation to the Lowland Center will allow us to purchase tents, sleeping bags, clothing, and other crucial items to distribute to residents of Lake Charles, LA and Port Arthur, TX, who are currently experiencing homelessness. A one-time donation of $29 will allow us to purchase one tent.

Buy

Use your Amazon account to order a tent, sleeping bag, or other much needed items from our Amazon Wishlist. These items will then be directly delivered to our partners on the ground. **Note: you will need to be signed in to your Amazon account in order to view the list

Send

Send your used tents, sleeping bags, socks, coats, hats, and gloves to any of the following addresses:

St. Andrew Presbyrtarian Church 4020 Hodges St Lake Charles, LA 70605-2920 ℅ Nanette Cagney
Greater St. Mary 1401 Moeling St. Lake Charles, LA 70601 ℅ Pauline Hurst
Waters Edge Homeless Ministry 2760 Power Center Blvd Lake Charles LA 70607 ℅ Kelli Staweki

Volunteer

As an all-volunteer network, we are always looking for individuals who can help support our mission. The network includes community leaders, faith leaders, advocates, activists, practitioners, researchers, and students weaving together environmental justice and disaster expertise to develop strategies that address the inequitable access to disaster response and recovery efforts and to advocate for a justice-driven recovery process. Through the generosity of time and commitment, individuals and organizations are sharing resources and expertise that can avoid usual pitfalls in disaster recovery and help find healthy safe alternatives.

If you are willing to lend your skills and expertise to address these urgent needs, please fill out this survey. If you have any questions, please send an email to: disasterjusticenetwork@gmail.com.

Your Support in Action

An amazing group of folks came together at the end of February to off load a tractor trailer of 25 pallets of supplies, blankets, baby kits, school kits, hygiene kits and more. A network of friends utilized a loaned forklift, strong arms and distribution channels to get all of these resources out into the community within 12 hours of delivery!