If you hadn’t heard of them before Hurricane Harvey, you certainly have now — the Cajun Navy as they call themselves, is a band of rugged Louisiana outdoorsman (and women) who load up their boats and caravan into flooded areas, performing rescues.
They’ve been a tremendous asset in rescuing folks flooded out by Harvey in the Houston area, the Gold Triangle, and even down towards Port Aransas.
Formed during the massive Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts in 2005, these volunteers work together using their personal water crafts to coordinate water rescues.
Using social media and the Zello walkie talkie app, Cajun Navy members were able to locate and deploy to those needing rescue.
But the navy isn’t the only band of volunteers sent by our sister state Louisiana. A caravan of meal-makers, going by “Cajun Gravy” showed up to do what they do best — feed people, and first responders in particular.
From WAFB:
While Louisiana’s Cajun Navy is hard at work rescuing Texans from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, The Cajun Gravy is making sure first responders are well fed. The Cajun Gravy is cooking up famous Louisiana dishes, including things like jambalaya and red beans and rice.Thursday afternoon, they were operating out of Orange, Texas at a temporary housing location for about 1,000 first responders. Among those being served are Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents, Louisiana and Texas National Guard members, strike teams, and water rescue personnel.A group of Louisiana cooks from the cities of Baton Rouge, Gonzales, and Donaldsonville formed the group after seeing the devastation left behind by Hurricane Harvey. One of the founders, Kyle Rome, owns Kickstands Kitchen, a catering company in Ascension Parish.Rome says the Cajun Gravy all started with a phone call from Brett Dunham, owner of Le Chien, a new brewery coming to Baton Rouge. Rome says Dunham knew he was a chef and asked if he wanted to help cook for storm victims.“We decided to put a group together to go to Texas,” Rome said in a Facebook post. “We started making calls to friends that own businesses to see if they wanted to donate. It started to snowball so much that we were able to fill five trucks and about 70 feet of enclosed trailer space, just to pull what we had been given in donations over the past four days. We made a PayPal account to be able to accept monetary donations so we could buy food and supplies to cook while we were in Texas. We received over $7,000 in the same four days. We had enough food with us to be able to make over 10,000 plates from the cash and donations,” he wrote.
All hail the Cajun Navy and God bless Louisiana.
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
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