Please see the attached request from Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett. Feel free to forward to others you think may be willing to provide assistance.
September 1, 2020
To our Frisco and North Texas friends and neighbors,
Early in the overnight hours of Thursday, August 27, Category 4 Hurricane Laura struck the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana, with sustained wind speeds of 150 mph that caused unspeakable damage to the entire city and region. It is estimated that $8.7 billion in insured damage was inflicted on the Southwest Louisiana area and parts of neighboring Southeast Texas, and the photos and videos of the record-setting storm’s aftermath are simply heartbreaking and truly unthinkable.
Simply put, every building and residence in this important petrochemical industrial region of close to 200,000 people, has been damaged. Essential services such as electricity, running water, sewage, and sanitation may be weeks away from coming back on-line. McNeese State University in Lake Charles is the longest standing current member (since 1972) of the Southland Conference, headquartered in Frisco since 2006 and host league of the annual NCAA FCS Football Championship Game since 2011.
Our friends at McNeese State and throughout the Lake Charles area need our help, and the Southland Conference is asking for the assistance of our neighbors in the Frisco and North Texas business community in this critical time of need.
The Southland will host a Lake Charles relief supplies drop-off location at Toyota Stadium (Corolla Red Lot) in Frisco on Saturday, Sept. 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you are able and willing, the effort will welcome any donations, none too small or large, of the following items:
- Bottled water and sports drinks
- Antibacterial wipes and cleaning supplies
- Hand sanitizer
- Masks
- Personal toiletries/hygiene products
- Paper towels
- Toilet paper
- Paper plates/Plasticware/Cups
- Trash bags/contractor bags
- Insect spray
- First-aid supplies
- Sunscreen
Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana is a special corner of our world, and we want to do everything possible to assist these wonderful people. We also have many Louisiana transplants that live in Collin County and the entire DFW Metroplex, who we know will want to do their part! Please help us do that if you can!
Thanks and God Bless,
Tom Burnett
Southland Conference Commissioner
