I was scheduled to board a plane to Washington, DC today to meet with Save the Children, coincidentally, to learn more about Save the Children‘s work protecting children before, during and after emergencies. I was going to meet with government figures charged with protecting U.S. children from disaster. No coincidence, this was definitely a God thing, this trip with Save the Children was planned long before we knew about the devastation that would take over our community. My partnership and participation in their Emergency Preparedness campaign has turned out to be a timely one.
After informing Save the Children of the devastation that hit our community, they immediately committed to respond and are here in Louisiana, ready to help Louisiana’s children. I can not tell you the joy I felt and the tears that flowed to know they would be coming. Schools are underwater, too many children have lost everything. Save the Children is deploying an emergency response team to Baton Rouge to establish Child-Friendly Spaces in emergency shelters and assess children’s most urgent needs in the wake of severe flooding in southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. PLEASE consider making a donation to Save the Children by clicking the Donate button below. Louisiana’s children need your help!
Please consider donating to help Save the Children and the work they will do here for our children!
Save the Children mounted a major response after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and has served 1 million U.S. children affected by emergencies since then — including subsequent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region. The organization also runs long-term education programs for children in high-poverty rural areas, including Head Start, early learning and literacy programs in the wider impact areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Save the Children’s local staff in Louisiana and Mississippi are currently working to verify the safety of children they serve, and also working to avert the destruction of two of the organization’s Head Start centers in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, which has been inundated in the floods. Save the Children’s education programs work to give children living in poverty opportunities to succeed in school and life that they might otherwise never have.
Both Louisiana and Mississippi are under a state of emergency. Numerous schools are closed, homes and buildings are destroyed and roads and bridges are impassable. Thankfully, Save the Children is on the way to help!
Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We invest in childhood — every day, in times of crisis and for our future. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.