LACOMBE, La. (ABP) — The Rotary Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to aid in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Louisiana's hurricane relief efforts in Lacombe, a small Creole community about 25 miles north of New Orleans.
Earmarked to restore at least five houses in Lacombe, the grant was requested by Rotary Club 99 in Little Rock, Ark. Through a partnership with CBF of Arkansas, Rotary Club 99, learned about CBF of Louisiana's efforts in Lacombe and have been providing supplies, funds and volunteer labor.
“We are excited to find a group like CBF of Arkansas that would channel our gifts and manpower where it is needed the most,” said Sam Chaffin, the club's task-force chairman and former president.
Charles Ray, CBF of Arkansas' disaster-response coordinator, recently spoke to the congregation of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock at the invitation of its pastor, Randy Hyde. Hyde had invited Chaffin, a fellow Rotarian, to hear about the Fellowship's relief efforts. Chaffin liked what he heard, and Ray's later trips to Lacombe uncovered needs that Rotary members were able to meet.
Rotary Club 99, the eighth-largest Rotary club in the world, first provided a much-needed cargo trailer, which representatives delivered to Lacombe Oct. 13. The trailer, along with three new chainsaws donated by Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., have helped CBF of Louisiana's rebuilding efforts.
After Chaffin took representatives of the Mandeville (La.) Rotary Club on a tour of Lacombe, that group accessed its own resources, providing further financial support for CBF of Louisiana's efforts in the community.
“This partnership shows how civic clubs and faith-based organizations can join together as people with resources helping people with needs,” said Ray Higgins, coordinator of CBF of Arkansas.