Kathleen Hilliard

Hope and kindness are two things that Louisiana has seen many brilliant examples of in the past two months from people around the country and the globe who heard the cry for help following the hurricanes that devastated the area. 

“We feel like sometimes we are forgotten around this country, what we have come through and what our needs are—this is a real testament,” enthused Senator Ronnie Johns, “After Hurricane Laura got hit in August, this community went to work … it took a lot of coordination, it took a lot of leadership, it took a lot of commitment, it took a whole lot of, lot of hard work. This is an incredible day for us here to see this kind of donation.”

It is that hope and that kindness that Morning Star brought to Southwest and Central Louisiana on Monday, Nov. 2. 

The popular tomato and tomato-product company in California donated approximately 60 pallets of their products to Louisiana. The company started in 1970 as a “one-truck owner-operator company” and now supplies over 40 percent of national markets with ingredient tomato paste and diced tomatoes. United Way of SWLA is distributing 45 pallets of products to their Hurricane Relief Center at 2401 6th Street and RoyOMartin will distribute the remaining 15 pallets in Central Louisiana.

The Sierra Pacific and Union Pacific railroads assisted in moving the free food cross-country to the Port of Lake Charles within less than a month.

“With two hurricanes back to back, we know our region is still very much in recovery mode. This is why we haven’t shut the doors to our Hurricane Relief Center. Donations like Morning Star keep us moving ahead towards completeness and help give the community a sense that they are seen and cared for,” Denise Durel, United Way of Southwest Louisiana president and CEO said. 

“We saw the need,” said Morning Star representative Roderick Henry, explaining how they had taken the challenge of distributing a few pallets across the area up to donating 200,000 pounds of food from their company.

The products, including tomato puree, pizza sauce, diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce and other tomato products, will go towards grocery distribution and to prepare hot meals across the region.

“As quickly as they got it here, we’re going to in turn get it right in the hands of the people who need it the most in our community throughout Central and Southwest Louisiana,” said Durel.

“There’s things that we can do today in the aftermath of a couple of hurricanes that I hope, decades from now, people will look back and say ‘You know what? This was a catastrophe—but there was a lot of good  that came from it.’ And today is just a snapshot of some of the good that can come,” expressed Mayor Nic Hunter of Lake Charles, “This was not just a Lake Charles tragedy, this was an American tragedy.”Morning Star delivers 60 pallets of their products to Louisiana on Monday.

Special to the American Press