In mid-August rain began to fall in Louisiana. It was nothing unusual, since it rains in Louisiana frequently. But by the third day people began to notice a problem. The water had stopped draining to the rivers. Many of the rivers had begun to overflow. Approximately 20 inches and 6.9 trillion gallons of rain had saturated Louisiana.

While removed from the flooded areas, the Prep community has nonetheless been affected by the disaster, and has responded accordingly.

One of many Prep connections to the flood is through John Dubberly, father of Hays (12th grade) and Preston (10th grade), has customers in the area, such as, Mr. Brent Fisher, who lives in Baton Rouge.  “This was the most destruction that I have ever seen caused by water.  I was lucky, but I have co-workers that lost everything.  Some are still living in shelters provided by the Red Cross,” said Fisher.  Some of Fisher’s other coworkers lost their cars and their homes had 3 or more feet of water in them.

Many in the Prep community have family and friends in southern Louisiana. Lake Wartes spoke with Baton Rouge resident Jodie Rose Bacon, a friend of his grandmother responded, “The flooding made it very difficult to go anywhere or do anything. I don’t have a car and all public transport was cancelled so I was stuck in my apartment unable to go anywhere.”

More than 30,000 people and 1,400 animals have been displaced from their homes, and many members of the Prep family have joined the relief effort. On Saturday, August 20, volleyball head coach Ms. Leah Thomson and student volunteers from the volleyball team drove to Louisiana to help an animal shelter in need of repair and donations.

Freshman Carol Currie made the journey to build kennels and take care of the animals. “We built eight kennels, fed the dogs, and gave them water,” said Carol. “It was great.”

Prep students were able to help distribute truckloads of donations, and Coach Thomson rescued a dog from the flood waters that will now be rehabilitated as a part of her rescue organization Madison ARK.

Jackson Prep juniors Tanner McCraney and Kole Crotwell also saw the need to help in a big way. Moved by the devastation, they went to Global Leadership Institute director Colonel Merrill asking what to do. He helped them get in contact with the American Red Cross. They were extremely excited for Kole and Tanner’s willingness and compassion to help out.

The Red Cross gave the two students the supplies they needed. They set up collection buckets by the concession stands at Prep’s season-opening football game against Oak Forest so people could donate money to the cause. They also set up a tent by the ticket booth, so people could donate there as well. Including contributions made after game day, Kole and Tanner raised $2060 for the Red Cross to use in Louisiana.

-RJ Green, Tanner McCraney, Preston Dubberly, and Lake Wartes also contributed to this story.