Former Terrebonne Councilman to be honored in Washington, D.C., for Hurricane Ida response

A former Terrebonne councilman worked tirelessly to ensure survivors of Hurricane Ida had supplies. He will be honored in Washington, D.C., for those efforts.

Former Councilman Dirk Guidry will receive the 2024 Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by the U.S. Small Business Administration during National Small Business week April 28 through May 4. He is receiving the award for his running of an emergency distribution center for survivors of Hurricane Ida.

Guidry worked 16 hours a day for 35 consecutive days to ensure the center was running. He coordinated the supply routes, the volunteers and the donations. Volunteers said he kept an upbeat attitude and ensured whatever supplies were needed were swiftly obtained.

"What hurt me the most was people were just so grateful just for a bag of ice," Guidry said. "It hurt me personally because I'm from down here. I've been in business for over 40 years down here. And it just hurt me to see these people, and I knew they had no home left. They were sleeping in their cars, they were sleeping underneath their houses."

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ida's swath of destruction, southern Terrebonne was in shambles. The communities had no running water or power, and many lost their homes. Guidry converted the Ward 7 Citizens' Club, 5008 Hwy 56, into an emergency distribution center. Officials say his district was the hardest hit in Terrebonne, and his center was the first up and running.

For the first three to four days, resources were ferried to Ward 7 by a "deuce-and-a-half" and a pickup truck with a trailer. Two people from the Air Force National Guard out of New Iberia were sent to aid Guidry, whom he said were his lifelines. They drove the two-and-a-half ton truck and at times were the only lines of communication to the city. Phones and radios wouldn't work.

"It was a young guy and a young girl," Guidry said. "I wish I could remember their names, because I would have loved to have thanked them. When they were leaving everything was hurry, hurry, hurry. I got to give them a hug and a handshake. I didn't get their names, and to this day that still haunts me. They were my life savers."

Kendall Williams is a volunteer who was sent down by the Cajun Army from Denham Springs. He and three others stayed in a local's home and worked to keep the distribution center running with Guidry. Williams has volunteered since 2016 when not working, and said Guidry was impressive in his ability to get anything that was needed to keep the operation running. This ranged from forklifts, to freezers and more.

Guidry said trust was the currency that kept everything running. When emergency aid is shipped down, it's supposed to get approval through channels up to the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. In some instances, permission was not obtained. Guidry told those who helped him that he would take the blame if anyone were to say anything. He never got any pushback for it.

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"We didn't go through the procedures like we were supposed to go through with the government," he said. "I mean we cut corners… Whatever I wanted, when I called, they sent it. I had it within a couple of hours."

To get the forklift, Guidry called Piranha Rentals. He told the company he would reimburse it later. Williams said the forklift was invaluable to offload the trucks. When life returned to normal, Guidry called the Terrebonne Parish Government's Chief Finance Officer Kandace Mauldin to get the company paid.

"I was going to pay for it out of pocket if I had to, because I needed it," he said. "When I finally got communications with the parish, I told Kandace, 'Kandace baby, you're gettin' the bill from Piranha. If you don't pay for I'll pay for it.'"

Two weeks in the distribution center was so efficient it converted into a supermarket-style setup, where the community could come through and freely take whatever it needed. Trucks traveled twice a day restocking goods. If anything was overstocked, Guidry shipped the goods to the nearby Smithridge community, back to Houma or to the neighboring Lafourche Parish.

"Even when I had everything that I needed, and didn't need anything, I'd call everybody else in Terrebonne… and if they told me no, I'd find somebody in Lafourche Parish and I'd send it to Lafourche Parish," Guidry said. "Because we're people, man. We're all Cajun people."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Former Terrebonne Councilman Dirk Guidry honored Hurricane Ida response