{"id":8741,"date":"2020-09-17T18:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T18:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/?p=8741"},"modified":"2025-08-25T18:29:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:29:03","slug":"hurricane-laura-survivors-are-hoping-in-god-never-giving-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/2020\/09\/17\/hurricane-laura-survivors-are-hoping-in-god-never-giving-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Laura Survivors Are Hoping In God & Never Giving Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lake Charles, LA \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Don’t give up. It’s a sentiment echoed throughout Lake Charles in these days and weeks after Hurricane Laura ravaged the area and turned lives upside down. Karen Collins, a resident of Lake Charles’ impoverished Goosport neighborhood, says it’s the message she hopes to convey to all of her neighbors. \u201cMy advice to everybody is not to give up. There’s a reason why we’re going through this, and I think people need to recognize that and just keep the strength,\u201d Karen said. \u201cIt’s a test in everybody’s life, I think, to be strong and show God we’ve got to be strong and to believe Him,\u201d she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen has been coming to The Salvation Army canteen at Peggy’s Superette for meals and says that she appreciates the Army being present time and again after disaster strikes. \u201cSalvation Army has come through any time since I’ve been here in over 20 years. I would say from Rita to this storm, The Salvation Army always came through in this area and I appreciate it,\u201d said Karen. \u201cI believe it’s important that they come because it’s showing the community that there is a source out there that cares,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alric Lane is a native of Lake Charles and a Salvation Army canteen worker who has been serving regularly at Peggy’s Superette. \u201cBeing out there, letting them know that hey, no matter what, there’s a hot meal right here for you and there’s a little conversation that I’m more than happy to share with you. And a little prayer if you need it,\u201d said Alric. \u201cA lot of them are just sleeping in their houses, hot\u2014they can’t afford a generator. So, I try to make it fun. Let’s laugh, let’s get some good food to eat, and let’s go on with our day,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a time when Alric was, in his words, \u201cin the dark side of the world.\u201d But he turned his life around with help from The Salvation Army and has been able to maintain a sober and productive life. In this disaster relief service, he has been serving some of the people he knew in his previous life and sees it as an opportunity to spread the message of hope. \u201cFor people to see that this is living proof that there is hope and that God is not done with you yet,\u201d said Alric. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen and Alric agree that the main focus to keep going throughout this difficult time is to have hope in God and never give up. \u201cI just want to tell everybody, just don’t give up. Don’t ever give up,\u201d Karen said. \u201cGod doesn’t give up on us,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As natural disasters can increase mental stress, The Salvation Army\u2019s Emotional & Spiritual Care HOPEline remains available. Anyone needing a caring listener \u2013 whether because of natural disaster, COVID-19, or the stress of life in general \u2013 can call 844-458-HOPE (4673) for support. HOPEline hours are 8 AM to 11 PM CDT, 7 days a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to support the disaster work of The Salvation Army is by making a financial donation at www.helpsalvationarmy.org<\/a> or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY. For the latest emergency disaster services news from The Salvation Army, please go to www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org<\/a> and watch for regular updates on our social media pages at www.facebook.com\/LakeCharlesCorps, www.facebook.com\/salarmyalm\/ and www.twitter.com\/salarmyalm.<\/p>\n

Daphne Nabors<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lake Charles, LA \u2014\u00a0Don’t give up. It’s a sentiment echoed throughout Lake Charles in these days and weeks after Hurricane Laura ravaged the area and turned lives upside down. Karen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":8742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[94,236,79],"class_list":["post-8741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-response","tag-hurricane","tag-laura","tag-louisiana"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/23d43c5f8e15402bae784e2e0d94b106.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8743,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741\/revisions\/8743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}