Fresh on the heels of Hurricane Ida’s devastation through southeast Louisiana, the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office is collecting donations to benefit the deputies and residents of St. James Parish and Terrebonne Parish.

Donations of nonperishable food items and goods are being collected at the Beauregard Jail office, the south side substation and the west side substation in anticipation of a delivery to the parishes on Wednesday.

As of Monday evening, Sheriff Mark Herford said that one trailer full of donations had already been delivered to St. James Parish, with a second trailer ready to accept more donations for Terrebonne Parish.

“I am so appreciative to the Beauregard Parish community for the outpouring of support with donations for these parishes that are going through something almost exactly like what we went through not so long ago with Hurricane Laura. I’m proud to represent such a giving community and I’m honored to be able to help these two sheriffs who first helped us,” Herford said.

Herford said he felt passionate about helping Sheriff Willie Martin of St. James Parish and Sheriff Tim Soignet of Terrebonne Parish because he said they were the first two names to bring support to Beauregard Parish last year.

“Those two agencies sent the finest deputies that I have ever met, aside from my own. They worked tirelessly to help us clear roadways and tarp houses. They worked from daylight to dark and they never complained, and they did anything that we asked of them. In my opinion, there is no way that we could not offer them help right now,” Herford said.

By Monday afternoon, Herford had already arranged for three teams of five Beauregard Parish deputies each to be on the ground in the two parishes. Already,Herford said he is seeing devastation nearly identical to what Beauregard experienced and he said that has in turn allowed him to be prepared for what the area will need.

“It brings back a lot of memories that are still vivid for me and for my deputies. Right now that area is without power and they are dealing with communication issues just like what we dealt with, so we hope we can help them with what we learned through our own experience,” Herford said.

Items being collected include water and nonperishable food items as well as hygiene items, baby items such as diapers and formula, empty gas cans, paper products, first aid items and any other items residents experienced a need for in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura.

Herford said donations will continue to be collected through Tuesday.