“No matter what we need to get done, our partnerships, friendships will help get it done”: United Way Reaches Masses Through Partnerships

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United Way for South Louisiana is dedicated to creating long-lasting change and brings people together to help those in need. When Hurricane Ida hit, it was more important than ever to come together to start rebuilding.

Executive Director Alina Merlos said she hasn’t seen anything close to the destruction the storm brought, the closest was Hurricane Katrina. She just made her 25th anniversary at the organization. 


Merlos recounted coming to check on her home and the organization’s office. “I remember watching on TV, I think it was the Storm Chasers who came to Houma, and they showed Rod’s Super Store…that’s a block from our office. It’s bad,” she said. When she was finally able to check on the organization’s office, she said she saw the roof, and knew it had damage, but she wasn’t expecting what she walked into. The roof caved in, sheetrock crumbled, and everything inside was ruined. All it took was one call to Lawrence Dehart at Terrebonne Churches United Food Bank, and he said it was a no-brainer to let their staff move into their facility temporarily. They not only wanted to use the facilities for their staff of four, but they also wanted to utilize the warehouse to use as a point of contact for all donations coming through.

It’s been non-stop since then. “We’ve been really amazed because United Way covers two of the most affected areas which are Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish,” Merlos said, “United Ways from across the country, including Hawaii, were amazing.” She said it wasn’t just United Way that she saw an outpouring from. Former United Way employee Ashlee Barahona is the Executive Director of the Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence (TFAE) and has assisted United Way and the food bank since the beginning. She has now become the point of contact person. 

Merlos said Dehart has been so kind because it is usually only food that’s available at the warehouse, but they’ve been receiving donations across the board. They have had large shipments of water, generators, cleaning supplies, and hygienic items. One recent large shipment was 9/11 firefighters from New York who were driving all night to deliver supplies to the food bank. Merlos said the outpouring of support from around the country has been amazing.


Another aspect Barahona assists United Way with is grants. Merlos said they have now received grants for rental assistance or hotel assistance for those who have been displaced. (For more information and to apply for the grant, visit uwsla.com.) Barahona said the experience has taught her some things. She said she truly believes that partnerships become friendships that become family. “I think no matter where you come from, TFAE with the schools, United Way, and the food bank, no matter what we need to get done, our partnerships, our friendships, our family now, and we will help get it done,” she said.

One amazing thing that happened was the United Way and TFAE partnership. United Way has given TFAE and the Lafourche Education Foundation $10,000 to replenish and replace supplies. “That is just the beginning of what is to come,” said Barahona. As far as education, Merlos said this year’s ‘Pack the Bus’ initiative that they partner with Synergy Bank broke records on the number of school supplies that were donated. “I was driving in and it hit me,” Merlos said, “Oh no, all those school supplies.” They are not sure how much of the donations were able to be moved to a safe place or how many were able to be salvaged, but the two organizations are working together to get supplies and things needed back into classrooms. “To us, that’s the important thing, not just to feed people and to see them in a safe home, but to also see them get their kids the tools they need in the classroom. That’s what we’re all about and what we have been doing,” Merlos said.

Merlos said the storm has been interesting. One of the most interesting stories is when Barahona and Merlos drove down to the end of Dulac one day. They had a lady that actually worked with the organization years ago. She and her husband have a 100-foot vessel that’s a workboat they converted into a fishing vessel. They were in Key West but were planning to come back to Houma, so they stopped from port to port to pick up supplies. They ended up bringing home two tons of supplies.


They have also made new long-standing relationships throughout this experience.  Merlos said Chef Jonathan Tibbs is the head chef at Fisher’s at the Orange Beach Marina. They have come down to Houma around five times and have fed thousands of people. Merlos said the first time the chef and his team came down was for Hurricane Nicholas which dumped tons of rainwater on the already overwhelmed South East. She laughed while saying “At first, we were under a tent. And then we weren’t under a tent because it blew away.” They found a way to persevere and utilized a friend’s carport. Not only did Chef Tibbs feed the masses, but he did so with style. On one trip he cooked 1,400 Wagyu steak sandwiches. “We just made great partnerships with people we never knew before,” Merlos said.

Merlos has a long-standing history with charities. In fact, it was her own story that inspired her to take the position at United Way. She is originally from Cuba and her family came to the U.S. on August 13, 1968, with what’s called the Johnson Freedom Flights that immigrated Cubans to Miami for eight years. Merlos was almost five years old and they were only allowed to take the clothes on their backs. Her father was a machinist and was told there were jobs in New Orleans, Houma, and Morgan City. They chose Houma because it was in the middle. She said the only ones that came to help was a Catholic charity who handed her father a $200 check and gave each one of them a red coat. A week later, they arrived in Houma and have been here ever since.

She remembers when her mother went to St. Francis to talk to them about enrolling her and her brother in school. The principal welcomed them with open arms and told them until they were able to pay for tuition, they can still attend. It was thanks to a Guatemalan nun at St. Francis that the children learned English. Merlos remembered learning English after school.


She said they were lucky because her father was a machinist and to be a machinist you need to learn how to speak math. As long as they gave him plans, and let him loose, he was fine. He worked for Avondale Shipyard for about a year, then he ended up at Main Iron Works and worked there until he was 79 years old.

“I started my life here because a charity helped us and that’s why I became the head of United Way,” she said, “You can live the American dream if you work hard. That’s what he instilled in us.”