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On Aug. 12, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was hit with an unprecedented amount of rainfall that brought the equivalent of 7.1 trillion gallons of water to the area for the next three days. This once-in-a-century storm claimed 13 lives and damaged upward of 100,000 homes, leaving even more to deal with the devastating effects of this historic flood.
As the events unfolded, millions from around the country watched, wondering what they could do to help.
One Utah businessman, however, took action by enlisting the help of some very eager employees.
Phil Hansen, CEO of Clearlink, was on his way to work when he heard the news updates on the Louisiana floods. Right then, he decided that he needed to find some employees who would travel with him to Baton Rouge to provide hands-on disaster relief.
Although Clearlink is no stranger to helping others through random acts of kindness by way of its Out of the Blue program, Hansen wondered if he would be able to round up enough to go with him. While he offered to pay all expenses, including paid time off, he was very surprised to find that within 24 hours, he had more than 130 employees said they were willing to go.
When it was all said and done, 40 Clearlink employees from three different office locations in Utah and Arizona made the trip. All volunteers piled into vans and drove 25 hours straight before gathering with volunteers from all over the country at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge.
“It was inspiring to see the willingness of our people to drop everything on a moment’s notice and drive halfway across the country to help a community in need,” Hansen said. “I’m proud to be a part of this hard-working and generous team.”
Hearing about the devastation on the radio and even seeing it on TV did not prepare the volunteers for what they would see.
“You’d drive down the street and see these piles that were 10-feet deep and up to a 100 feet long — basically whole families’ belongings,” Ryan Kaltenbach, a forecasting analyst for Clearlink described. “In some streets, it would be every single house like that. It was devastating seeing that, knowing these were people’s lives that had just been thrown out on the curb.”
Despite the overwhelming work that needed to be done to even begin to repair the damage, Clearlink’s Out of the Blue volunteers had a purpose. They knew why they were there, and they were going to help.
Right away, volunteers were divided into three teams that were tasked with completing anything and everything that was asked of them. For two days straight they ripped out hardwood floors damaged by the water, removed waterlogged mattresses weighing hundreds of pounds and sorted through trash and desperately tried to save treasures so that the victims had something to hold on to.
Raliqua “Sandra” Slater, a Clearlink sales agent recalled one such moment when she was able to do just that.
“The very first house that we did … had a shed that was packed and everything was moldy,” she recalled. “We had to take it all out, most of it was trash because it was soaking wet, but some of the stuff was able to be saved. The homeowner collected angels, so she was really happy that we were able to save some of those angels … She lost her son’s books, too, and that broke her heart because he likes to read, so we went out and got her some books for her son.”
As the Out of the Blue volunteers went about helping the victims piece together the broken pieces of a life, they had worked so hard to build, they, too, found themselves being inspired and wishing they could do more.
“It was incredibly powerful to see groups from all over the nation come together to help the people of Louisiana,” Hansen said. “Everything comes into perspective when you see the entire contents of a home piled in the street. We were shocked at how little media coverage has been given to this community that’s experienced such devastation. I would encourage people to help in any way they can. The impact of this flood is far from over.”
While no official plans have been made to return to the area, Clearlink continues to bring awareness to the ongoing need through its Out of the Blue program.
