NEW ORLEANS — When Kerry Pakucko saw a need posted on social media, she drove from her New Orleans home to Gretna.
“I brought cat food, cat litter, people food, granola bars, peanut butter, snacks,” said Pakucko.
All of it was added to the Humane Society of Louisiana’s growing supply drive. All of it is bound for Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Asheville, North Carolina.
“The people of Asheville, they’re like our sister city in a way. Those pet lovers came to help us during Katrina, the flood of 2014, virtually everything, Ida, so we really owe it to them,” said Humane Society of Louisiana Director Jeff Dorson.
Dorson says helping pet owners is one thing, but helping their pets is another.
“They don’t get their pictures taken that often. They’re not taking selfies, they’re not on rooftops saying help me, so we have to understand that their needs are as great as ours,” said Dorson.
Those needs, whether just a small bag of cat food, can go a long way for someone who lost everything.
“If someone did that for me, I would be a blithering idiot crying out of gratitude for the whole day honestly and I hope that these folks realize that someone out there is trying,” said Pakucko.
In fact, a lot of people are. The American Red Cross has been sending supplies and volunteers since before Hurricane Helene made landfall.
“It’s a long-term commitment that we make throughout the process, starting with the initial landfall but moving into recovery over many, many months,” said American Red Cross Regional CEO Kenneth St. Charles.
St. Charles expects the American Red Cross will be in those impacted states at least through the end of the year.
“It’s a little expensive to pull these operations off and to always be prepared,” said St. Charles.
That’s why money and volunteers are the top two needs.
“This will be a long mission, and we will have to do several iterations of replacing volunteers throughout the process,” said St. Charles.
With infrastructure destroyed in some places, St. Charles says getting supplies to the right places at the right times hasn’t been easy.
“We are actually renting helicopters to fly missions to deliver things where roads have been washed out,” said St. Charles.
What hasn’t been washed out is a passion to help people rebuild lives and homes, even if with something as small as a donation.
“I hope that they have just one less thing to worry about in their road back to wherever they need to be,” said Pakucko.
Pet supplies collected Wednesday morning at the Humane Society will be shipped off Thursday morning. There will be another pet and human food drive soon at the non-profit’s location at 618 Derbigny Street in Gretna.
To donate money or volunteer with the American Red Cross, CLICK HERE.
