Disasters, pandemic, uncertainty challenge nonprofits
While it’s been a rough year for a lot of people, 2020 has been especially tough in southwest Louisiana.
On top of the pandemic and recession the rest of the world has been dealing with, the region anchored by Lake Charles was hit by two major hurricanes this year, including Hurricane Laura, a 150-mile-per-hour beast and the strongest storm on record to make landfall in Louisiana.
Sara Judson, CEO of the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, vividly recalls receiving one of the first post-Laura donations. She opened mail with a New York state postmark and unwrapped some brown paper with “Hurricane Laura relief” written on it to find an envelope containing three one-dollar bills. Someone who probably doesn’t have much money to spare wanted to chip in.