Cajun Navy introduces new platform for hurricane relief

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Navigating hurricane recovery can be a daunting task but a new social platform created by the Cajun Navy Foundation aims to make it a lot easier.

Since Hurricane Laura, the Cajun Navy Foundation has been assisting with hurricane relief efforts, and their new social media platform hopes to make those relief efforts less daunting.

“We’ve developed a social media, or a social platform, to allow people to just connect themselves to the resources that they need through a single platform, and we’re working with organizations to pull it all together.”

Cajun Navy Foundation founder Rob Gaudet says the new platorm CrowdRelief aims to help those affected by natural disasters like Hurricanes Laura and Delta.

“The idea is to give all the nonprofits and people affected by hurricanes, as well as businesses in affected ecosystems, the ability to connect and share information and work together to rebuild the community.”

After creating a profile, people needing relief can connect with businesses, but they can also receive estimates on the time and money it will take to repair. The platform also allows users to create a fundraiser, where for the time being, will not have a percentage of the profits collected. But that’s not all.

“You can create a survivor and take surveys about - you know - am I getting all of the money, am I taking the advantage of all the opportunities that FEMA offers, or SBA, or nonprofits.”

Nonprofits, businesses, and volunteers can also utilize the platform.

“If you run a nonprofit, you can go and create a profile for your nonprofit, and people in the ecosystem can see what they’re doing. You can go and find volunteer opportunities, you can connect to nonprofits, you can even just say that I’m going to help.”

Completely free, Waters Edge Church, the Cajun Navy Foundation, and contractors are all starting to utilize the platform.

The new platform can be directly accessed HERE.

Gaudet says they’re hoping to add more businesses and nonprofits to the platform soon.

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