South Alabama sends trucks full of relief – video of UL unloading

The Advertiser,Aug. 23, 2016

For the past week, the University of South Alabama Jaguars football trailer has been parked at the school’s Stanky Field.

The university put out a call to the community to fill it with donations for flood survivors in South Louisiana.

The Mobile, Alabama, community responded in a big way, and on Monday, the truck, along with several others delivered the much-needed supplies to the Student Union on the UL campus.

Scott Farmer, UL athletic, director, said it started with a simple text conversation with South Alabama’s athletic director, Joel Erdmann.

“Sunday I just said, ‘There are a lot of people in need in this state right now,’ and that’s all I had to say,” Farmer said. “The next thing I know they were working on this and it just came together that quickly. And it is all overwhelming.”

"They thought maybe they could fill up one truck, and they filled up (five) trucks — an 18-wheeler and four 20-foot box trucks," Farmer said. "It’s really all the generosity of their fans."

The donations included water and non-perishable food, cleaning supplies, bug repellant and batteries. Farmer said more than 100 UL volunteered to help unload supplies.

Historic flooding in Baton Rouge and Acadiana have claimed at least 13 lives and damaged more than 40,000 homes in south Louisiana. More than 20 parishes have been declared a major disaster by the federal government.