Columbia International University Athletics

LAPLACE, La. - The CIU women's basketball team took some time off from their usual preseason workouts to spend some time giving back at the end of September. The Ram's headed down to LaPlace, Louisiana, a town just west of New Orleans that sits along the Mississippi River. Just over a month ago, LaPlace took the brunt of Hurricane Ida, a class four storm that struck New Orleans and its surrounding suburbs. To put the storm in perspective, the infamous Hurricane Katrina, which hit the region in 2009, was a category three hurricane. 

Women's basketball traveled down to the bayou with several other students and staff members from CIU. The group was led by CIU's Disaster Relief and Management Program Director, Dr. Michelle Raven, and hosted by New Wine Ministries, a church and distribution center in the city. The Rams spent their days clearing debris and trash from homes devastated by the hurricane and its floodwaters. 

"It was a pretty big wake-up call," said Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Daron Fleming. "It was hard work non-stop from the beginning of the trip until the end of the trip. We were ripping down drywall and essentially gutting homes that were covered by household debris. There were streets where one house was fine but the five houses around it were absolutely destroyed."

Some of the team stayed back at the distribution center to help with stocking the center and distributing food to people from the region who had lost everything. Head Coach Danielle Fleming met one such woman at the center. "I met one lady at the center named Yevette whose family stayed during the hurricane," said Fleming. "She described to me that the storm was like a train running through the home. It was definitely an emotional experience talking to these victims."

The group from CIU was actually invited to come help by CIU alumni and former women's basketball player Joy Jones. Jones, a Louisiana native, and current resident connected CIU with New Haven Wine Ministries and its distribution center director Sam Mamou. 

Jones commented on women's basketball participation in the recovery effort, saying, "CIU's team was a literal Godsend! After so much turmoil and disaster in our cities, people were finally able to see a glimmer of hope. Even though the team endured grueling hours, lack of sleep, constant physical labor, prepared and distributed thousands of meals, they continued to persevere and love on people by being the hands and feet of Christ." 

While the Rams were in LaPlace they were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience as ABC's Good Morning America visited the distribution center to honor Sam Mamou for his work with the victims of the hurricane. Mamou has spent countless hours volunteering his time to help his community while he himself is a victim and the national television show took notice. 

Watch Mamou being recognized on GMA and try to spot some members of the women's basketball program in the crowd:


Fleming noted that the experience made a lasting impact on her players. Sophomore guard Zion Neat who is also a Disaster Relief and Emergency Management major, spoke on her time in LaPlace saying, "Having the opportunity to go down as a team and serve the victims of Hurricane Ida was an extremely eye-opening experience. To be able to help them in any way was such a mutualistic blessing, but for them to entrust us with the restoration of their homes and for God to give us the strength to make such a big step in the recovery process for them was very humbling. " 

Neat continued, "This experience definitely brought our team closer together in allowing us to see how fortunate we are and how big of an impact we can make not only outside of ourselves but outside of our campus and even state."