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Help Baton Rouge. Here’s how.

Baton Rouge flood

Video: Rescue from underwater car in Baton Rouge

We hope you’ll take time to donate money or goods to relief efforts for Baton Rouge and other parts of Louisiana hit hard by flash floods over the weekend. So far, seven people have died statewide, more than 20,000 have been rescued from flooded areas and more than 12,000 are in shelters.

Baton Rouge is near and dear to me. In 2010, I was a panelist at the first social media conference in the city, Coastal Social, where I met the event director Whitney Breaux. With her help, we were able to launch the Alabama Social Media Association the following year.

The amazing conference and hospitality that Baton Rouge put on for me and hundreds of others inspired me to put on educational seminars in social media, first through the local nonprofit group we founded and in 2013, through Y’all Connect.

I feel a strong kinship with our neighbors in Louisiana, having volunteered several times there after Hurricane Katrina. And I know our own conference would not exist today without the generosity and guidance of Whitney and her colleagues.

Please take a moment to donate a few dollars or a few bottles of water to relief efforts as Baton Rouge, New Orleans and other towns emerge from this natural disaster. (We’ve made a small cash donation to the Red Cross.) Thank you.

Here’s how to help Louisiana:

  1. Donate to the Red Cross:
    • Online at redcross.org/donate/donation, picking “Louisiana Floods”;
    • Text LAFLOODS to 90999 to donate $10;
    • Call 1-800-RED-CROSS (733-2767).
  2. In Birmingham, drop off bottled water and canned goods from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at Boutwell Auditorium, 1930 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd., downtown.

Video: Red Cross in Louisiana

More coverage from The Advocate.

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