TANGIPAHOA PARISH SENDS AID TO NORTH CAROLINA

Tangipahoa Parish Floods North Carolina with Kindness in the Wake of Hurricane Devastation.

As we all remember, Hurricane Helene landed in Florida and then traveled up the coast to Western North Carolina, a region that historically doesn’t see that type of storm. The area received so much water that streams had become rivers, creating mudslides and leaving behind a path of destruction. Tangipahoa, as a community, understands the devastation a storm can cause and immediately began coordinating relief efforts. Parish President Robby Miller and his staff got busy filling relief trucks to send to the Carolinas.

At the same time, Hammond resident Deek DeBlieux, a committee member for the Board of Directors of the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was asked to coordinate relief efforts. His first priority was securing items such as the heavy equipment and generators needed to begin digging out the 1200-acre facility. “I could do that easily from Hammond,” said DeBlieux,  “they did not have access to telephones or computers at the time.”

Knowing the North Carolina National Guard was active, DeBlieux contacted Joe Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of the Tangipahoa Government. Thomas is retired from the Louisiana National Guard, so DeBlieux hoped he would have contact numbers for the local National Guard.

Thomas called back with an even better solution. One that was not even on DeBlieux’s radar. Parish President Robby Miller and the other parish leaders offered the option for YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain to be the recipients of the ongoing parish relief efforts.

Thomas and his team spent the next few days gathering supplies and working with DeBlieux to coordinate the delivery of those supplies directly to Asheville, NC. The relief supplies went to the Asheville area and were split between the Asheville YMCA and YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, which are only about 20 miles apart.

“Hurricane Helene was horrific for a community that wasn’t prepared for it at all,” said DeBlieux. “We’re used to hurricanes. We see them coming, and we prepare. They saw it coming but had no clue that it would dump the amount of rain it did.”

“Tangipahoa Parish directly impacted the communities of Asheville and Black Mountain, North Carolina tremendously,” said DeBlieux, “And, it happened without hesitation. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.”

The damages at the facility alone are estimated to exceed $30,000,000. While the rebuilding efforts have been ongoing, the organization needs more help. The easiest way for the community to help is to visit ymcablueridgeassembly.com/donate. There are portals where donations can be made to help save the historic buildings and to help make the campus safe for organizations to utilize the facility again.

As a last thought, DeBlieux pointed out how awesome it is to live in Tangipahoa Parish, where Robby Miller, Joe Thomas, and their teams thought ahead to offer help without being asked. “It gives me chills to belong to a community that reaches out so many states away to help others.”