HELP CHIANNE & MARTY! - Hurricane Ida Relief

On August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida made landfall in rural Louisiana, bringing record-breaking sustained winds; up to 240km/h, tornados, storm surge, and catastrophic flash flooding. Marty and Chianne and their four children are from Dulac, Louisiana and are like so, so many other families who lost absolutely everything.  They were in the direct path of Hurricane Ida.  Their family was living in a trailer that had been condemned after Hurricane Katrina. They were able to make the trailer livable for their family and then started working to build a stronger home for themselves.  Both the trailer and the home that they were building are destroyed. The tools that they were using to build a home for their family are gone.  Most possessions that they had are gone.  They are starting from the ground up to rebuild their lives.  

Chianne and Marty will likely qualify for little if any federal assistance.  (Reach out to me if you would like to understand why this is.)  Because so many families never fully recover from previous storms, the cycle of recovery continues throughout their lives and their children’s lives.  

Their story is like so many others along the Louisiana coast, especially the rural communities.  To compound this situation, Hurricane Ida was the Big One.  This storm destroyed so much of rural, coastal Louisiana.    

Our goal is to help Marty and Chianne as much as we can.  Their most immediate need is a camper and a generator that they can live in.  If we can also help to replace some of Marty’s tools, it could help he and his family start the rebuild process.  

I, Courtney Pellegrin-Howell, originally from Chauvin, Louisiana, have witnessed firsthand the significant destruction hurricanes can bring to these areas. I was there in 2005 and lived through Hurricane Katrina and Rita; some families never fully recovered from these storms. In 2009 I moved to Newfoundland with my husband; a resident of Newfoundland, and our daughter. My husband and I currently own two businesses in Grates Cove. I have witnessed the hospitality of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and their willingness to help others; a prime example of this is after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when Newfoundlanders and Labradorians welcomed thousands of people of different nationalities from all over the world.

I want to be in Louisiana right now to support my family and fellow Louisianians, but this is not possible; therefore, I have decided to start this Go Fund Me campaign. With your help, we will provide some assistance to a family in the devastated area and give them a little hope. We are depending on great community helping individuals like yourself to make this a reality.

Our goal is to directly support a family and assist in purchasing a generator and camper/trailer and hopefully some tools. This would give them a place to live while they rebuild and shed a little light on this very dark and long road ahead.

-A video taken by the family of what remains. Total destruction, they have lost so much.

-The family's trailer.

-This is what remains of the house they were in the process of building.

This family like others will likely slip through the cracks and not receive the assistance they need. They are in desperate need of a camper/trailer right now to give their family a place to call home while facing the long road of rebuilding. It's impossible for us to help everyone but it would would mean so much to us if we could come together to support Marty, Chianne and their kids.

Thank you kindly for your support.

Also, our restaurant, Grates Cove Studios, will be donating $1 of sales from our Cajun dishes to support this cause.

Please Note: All funds will be donated to The Helio Foundation in this family’s name.  The Helio Foundation will give the fully donated amount to the family.