CRESTVIEW — A Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission group recently left its Fort Walton Beach Stake headquarters and headed to Hammond, La., with a variety of tools and lots of determination.
The stake encompasses Crestview, Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, DeFuniak Springs and Baker members.
The crew, wearing bright yellow “Mormon Helping Hands” T-shirts, visited flooded homes and tore out wet carpets, Sheetrock and furniture. They gathered personal and sentimental belongings and cleaned moldy, smelly refrigerators.
Women and youngsters 12 years of age and up joined in the effort.
Stake presidents Mike Roberts, a doctor practicing in Niceville, and Craig Miller, Niceville High School assistant principal, pitched in to lead one of the work crews.
“There were 145 workers and 14 teams that came from our stake to help with the cleanup efforts in Louisiana,” an event spokesperson said. “Altogether, roughly 4,600 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave 1,860 hours of volunteer work in Louisiana with the Mormon Helping Hands Flood Relief Effort.”
The experience particularly touched Roberts, a Crestview resident who has family in Baton Rouge.
"We lived in New Orleans the first few years of our marriage and had the experience with our members getting flooded and our car being smashed by a falling tree," his wife, Ingrid, said. "He was born and raised and went to college in Louisiana, so he has a special love for the area.
“The people there are so humble and generous. We hope they recover from this tragedy quickly and we were so grateful to be able to help!”
Roberts’ team included people from Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Washington and Utah.
In addition to onsite labor, the Fort Walton Beach Relief Society collected and sent items such as diapers, wipes, insect repellent, first aid and cleaning supplies.
Semiautomatic trucks loaded with supplies for personal use and tools for cleanup arrived in Covington from the Bishop’s Storehouse in Atlanta (run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) after Gov. John Bel Edwards asked faith-based organizations to help flood victims.
9,400 Mormon Helping Hands volunteers from six states sorted through blankets, clothes, food and other supplies, getting them ready for flood victims.
More trucks are on the way.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: North Okaloosa LDS members aid Louisiana residents