VoW: Thursday noonish

Hi all, I pray that this email finds you all safe & ok. Our state has suffered a terrible catastrophe and it's going to take some time before all is *normal* again.
I'm sorry I have not been in contact until now; we have been without power, phones, or cell phone service since 7 am Monday morning. Our power came on about an hour ago and we are currently throwing away hundreds of dollars of spoiled food from our refrigerator and deep freezer... it smells to high heaven in here!

I don't know if some of you have heard about the looting and shooting going on around town [Baton Rouge -- l&j] -- primarily up near Cortana mall and downtown near the courthouse -- but PLEASE be careful if you are out and about!
As for park day, y'all do what you need to do for yours and your children's sanity! We will not be there because we have so much to clean up here & then we are going up to the hospital with [name] to check on patients. [Name]'s hospital had to take a huge number of patients from New Orleans and Metairie & they are still without power...
All *official* ByU business & activities are suspended until further notice, but again, take your kids to the park if you want/need! :)
I would like to open the lines of communication regarding our group doing something to help... I don't know what -- if anything -- we can do, but I'm open to suggestions. Right now, we are just trying to get our home/lives back in order & we are helping our church ([church name]) with their efforts.
If anyone in our group -- or anyone who KNOWS OF anyone in our group -- who is in serious need, PLEASE let us know! We will help any way we can.
Take care all,
[name]