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ResQue has thus stepped in to fill that space, focusing its efforts on the relief of small communities still recovering from the hurricane. “We started working two weeks after the storm. We’ve been focusing on much smaller communities that have not received the attention that larger places like Houma and the New Orleans area have gotten,” said Gottsegen. ResQue has been able to feed communi- ties and utility employees who have been working diligently to restore an entire power grid wiped off the map. “The resilience of the people that we have been able to serve has been extraordinary and uplifting,” he said. Though he’s been doing this for several years, what strikes Gottsegen most profoundly post-Ida are the seemingly limitless capacity for kindness and gener- osity within these communities and the pride Louisianans take in their homes and heritage. “Something like this comes about, and the number of people that have just thrown

“Most of these areas had severe damage and literally no goods and services available,” he said. “Not only no electricity, no gas stations, no drugstores. In some places, every building was damaged.” The lack of electricity has made life particularly harrowing for some communities that were impoverished to begin with. The loss of homes and lack of basic human needs has made life for many just shy of unbearable. “We drove through entire swaths of commu- nities where every power pole was down, every wire was in the street.” Already, ResQue has served almost 10 thousand meals in five communities, and they aren’t close to stopping. “We’ll continue to serve roughly 15 hundred meals per event as long as the need is there,” said Gottsegen. “A hot meal and a cold beverage can make people realize that we haven’t forgotten about them. We’re there to support them. They have not been forgotten.”

themselves into the mix with what we do — the number of people who have offered their time or their money or anything they can do to help us — has just absolutely been beyond anything that I have experienced in the six years that we’ve been doing this. It gives me hope for the future,” he said. Anyone inter- ested in helping ResQue in its mission can contact them at resqueorg@gmail.com to find out how to volunteer or donate. ResQue has worked closely with Rouses Markets because of the number of stores Rouses has in many of these far-flung and affected areas.

60 ROUSES NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2021