SLECA suspending cut-off notices, penalties and late fees for customers affected by Ida
September 8, 2021
Entergy still on track to energize the line to the Houma power plant on Thursday
September 8, 2021
Houma native Ben Deroche lives in Cypress, Texas but returned home to help those that were affected by Hurricane Ida.
He was able to coordinate a huge supply drive and made the trip back east to put feet to faith. He said his supply drive started by knowing his hometown full of friends, family, coworkers at PCM, and his community that he lived in for over 20 years was in trouble. “I knew I couldn’t sit around and do nothing, just as I’ve done with Dean Schoest in prior situations such as Harvey Baton Rouge flood etc.,” he said,” So me and my amazing girlfriend, Nicolle Davila, took to social media.” He said through Facebook, Nextdoor App and Linkedin, they were able to start taking donations. “It’s heartwarming to see the amount of people coming together for one common goal to help people in such a crazy world when all you hear about is the bad stuff,” he said.
Deroche said he has been through Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav, lily, Rita, and Harvey in Houston and never witnessed the level of devastation that Ida left behind. He said to see his parents lose everything so close to retirement hit a spot in his stomach that is unimaginable.
He said his experience through these efforts has been an overwhelming emotion to see the devastation. Having so many people reach out to him trying to save so many community members. He said it was heartbreaking to know you can’t give residents everything, but seeing that they could give residents something and to see the amount of appreciation for the little things have made it all worthwhile.
It takes a village to help a community through devastation, “I would like to thank my amazing girlfriend Nicolle for holding down our home front with our kids along with helping with donations. I would like to thank Big Mike Fesi’ for allowing me to use all my available time and resources to be able to get down there. The man truly loves his community. I would like to thank all my friends, I would like to thank my professional colleagues (even competitors helped out), all the people who donated just to make this possible because it takes a small army…I would also like to Thank Justin Bourgeois owner of Cypress stop for making sure that if I needed gas to get back to Houston and out of Houma I was taken care of…Also, thank the good Lord for putting me in a place in life that I could get this accomplished,” he said.
He said he would like to tell his friends, family, community, and coworkers,” We are a different breed of people. We have a heart and desire like no other place in the country. Keep going and so will I. I am dedicated to seeing my hometown get back to normalcy and will burn out any resources in my arsenal to do so. I LOVE YALL! I LOVE MY CITY! WE WILL REBUILD.”
