Area business owner Joe Lasick filled a trailer with supplies for hurricane victims.
It was Louisiana or bust.
For Lasick’s Beef and Seafood owner Joseph Lasick, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina was something that hit too close to home – so he decided to give back.
Pulling an old white trailer and and sitting next to a truck driver nicknamed “The Big Easy,” Lasick, along with friends and family, drove 23 hours straight last Tuesday, dropping off dozens of supplies to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Lasick said he felt compelled to help after he experienced personal tragedy of his own when his restaurant burnt to the ground last November.
“When I was in trouble, the community outreach was amazing,” he said. “These people have nothing but the clothes on their back, I had to give back.”
Together with his father, Sonny, and local business owners Steve Stanley and Steve Kemp, Lasick set up a collection drive, asking local residents to donate to help victims along the Gulf Coast.
“It was wonderful; no junk whatsoever. People were buying and donating all the supplies you could think of,” Lasick said.
Kemp, who owns SK Motors in Lanham, donated a refrigerated truck and one of his drivers to help with the trip.
Over two days, Lasick and his friends filled two truckloads of items, which included baby toys, medical supplies and food.
“After we stopped collecting Friday night, we came back the next morning and there was more stuff waiting to be packaged. It was amazing,” said College Perk Coffeehouse owner Christopher Gordon.
The two trucks left Tuesday with the passengers unsure of what to expect upon arrival, Lasick said.
“We were scared of running out of supplies, so we packed extra supplies of fuel just in case we ran low,” he said.
The crew headed to the Joy Ascension Church in Slidell, La., a small church that was housing victims suffering from the hurricane.
Kemp said they found the destination through the Emmanuel’s Church in Montgomery County, a “sister church” of Joy Ascension.
As they approached the Louisiana limits, Lasick said all he could see was an endless array of broken street signs, displaced people and an odor of death.
“You could smell the death out of the woods; stuff laying out of the road,” he said. “We decided to roll up the windows and crank the AC, to avoid the stench.”
Despite the tragedy, Lasick said, he saw a glimmer of hope in all the victims he sat and talked with.
“All they wanted to talk about how was they wish things would get better – they kept thanking us. It was a feeling I will never forget,” he said.
Lasick also supplied another generator for the church and left the refrigerated truck down there, so people could store supplies longer.
Despite traveling over 2,000 miles in just two days, Lasick said the power of a community is something that could never be broken.
“All we can do is continue to pray and hope for the best,” he said.
Contact reporter Sara Blumberg at blumbergdbk@gmail.com.
