DULAC, La. — Some families are still living in tents in Dulac nearly three months after Hurricane Ida. Next week is Thanksgiving when many of them would typically cook with their families. That will be a challenge this year. That's why one woman is organizing a thanksgiving feast for 500 people in the small bayou community.
"We felt like we could do better like we could do more," Patrice Moulton from Natchitoches said.
Moulton has no real ties to Dulac, but she's quickly learned the heart of the bayou community.
"Lovely people, lots of devastation," she said.
Just weeks after Hurricane Ida, Moulton drove down to drop off donations of clean clothes for hurricane victims.
"When I was in Dulac it was just devastating what happened there, the conditions people were living in, so we wanted to find a way to come back and regroup and do more," she said.
She connected with Father Antonio Speedy at Holy Family Catholic Church in Dulac.
"We'll take all the help we can get," Fr. Antonio said.
Now through the Fulbright Association in Louisiana which Moulton leads, she is planning to feed hundreds of people a Thanksgiving meal on Monday at Holy Family Catholic Church. Everyone in Dulac is welcome.
"We were hoping this event would provide a time for the community in Dulac to take a breath together and maybe find a moment of joy in the midst of all the chaos since the storm," Moulton.
"Now the hard work of rebuilding is coming and they still don't have the ability to cook big meals because they're so busy, so this relieves their suffering, it's a consolation that people are caring about them," Fr. Antonio said.
Moulton originally agreed to feed 300 people, but she learned the need is greater. Now she's hoping last-minute donations on a Go Fund Me will provide Thanksgiving plates for 500 people in Dulac.
"We have communities like Algiers point jumping in to give some supplies as well," she said.
A group of Tulane students are heading down with her to volunteer to help with a Thanksgiving feast that will surely be different than most years but will bring the community together.
The Thanksgiving feast at Holy Family Catholic Church will begin at 3 p.m. Monday. Click here to donate to their GoFundMe.
Also at Holy Family Catholic Church in Dulac, on Saturday the Cajun Navy Ground Force will hold a Trunks-giving for residents to pick up canned goods and hot meals beginning at 10 a.m.
For groups who want to help with relief efforts, Holy Family Catholic Church is working to organize labor volunteer groups to help rebuild homes. More information here: https://holyfamilydulac.org/