BATON ROUGE—The Baton Rouge Emergency Aid Coalition, or BREAC, is packing planes to fly needed supplies to Texas. BREAC Member, Claire Cashio says, “We have been gathering supplies for Houston and Beaumont as well as other areas that have not been getting supplies that they need.”
BREAC is a 501(c)3 organization made up of 6 working moms that formed after last year’s floods. Since Harvey, they’ve sent 8 planes from the Cajun Airlift full of supplies.
“We started off as a small group and next thing you know it spiraled out of control, everyone wanted to help,” says Cashio.
Pilots Owen Bordelon and James Wallace are part of the Cajun Airlift, which is a group that formed out of the New Orleans Lakefront Airport after Harvey. It’s made up of 40 pilots and counting–conducting 15-20 flights a day.
Pilot James Wallace says, “They had the Cajun Navy and a bunch of us said, hey we need a Cajun Air Force and next thing you know there’s a Cajun Airlift. As more donations came in, more pilots came in. People donating cargo planes, own personal planes, everything from little tiny planes to vintage World War II aircrafts.” Pilot Owen Bordelon adds, “Pilots like to fly but when you have a purpose for flying, it’s even better.”
They met BREAC members for the first time at the Baton Rouge airport to fly much needed children and baby supplies that were collected from St. Thomas More. “Books, diapers, toys, kids with autism need noise cancelling headphones,” says Cashio. Also, pack and plays for toddlers and babies to be contained.
Cashio adds, “A very pressing issue is that these shelters are very large that from the sleeping quarters to where they eat is approximately two football fields so imagine trying to carry your kid across two football fields for every meal.”
BREAC has collected about 200 umbrella strollers to date. BREAC and the Cajun Airlift will continue to collect and fly supplies out of the Baton Rouge Airport as long as the need exists.
www.breac225.org
