LSU Tekes Help In Time Of Need

As most college students this time of year are preparing to head back to school, the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon at Louisiana State University were preparing to help their community from devastating flooding.

According to the Red Cross, the recent flooding in Louisiana is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since Hurricane Sandy four years ago.

“Last Thursday (August 11th) is when we really started to see a bunch of rain. It was an atrocious amount,” said Joshua Nunez, Prytanis (Beta-Phi) at LSU.

Although their Fraternity house is located near a lake, thankfully their house wasn’t affected by the floods. 

What was affected was their weekend recruitment events that were postponed due to the heavy rains. A small price to pay for the impact the weather has had on their community. 

“During that time we were just trapped in the house waiting for the storm to clear,” said Nunez.

When the storm finally did clear, the men of the Beta-Phi chapter knew they had to go out and help those in need. The best way for college men to help combat a flood? By rearranging furniture, cutting into sheetrock and help clear out walls in basements ruined by the water levels. 

“We visited a lot of elderly people that couldn’t do that type of work or that didn’t necessarily have the support for it. We wanted to help those that couldn’t help themselves. We have a lot of man power to help out,” said Garcia.

Many residents of the Baton Rouge community were delighted with the men’s efforts, such as Betsy Baumgardner.

“These young men were a tremendous help. They performed the lion's share of breaking apart the largest pieces of furniture in the Baumgardner's house. The boys of LSU TKE are awesome. They were a God send,” said Baumgardner.

With an estimated chapter size of 60 men, according to Nunez, about 30 men had a hand in helping out their community’s flood relief efforts. Impressive numbers considering school was not yet in session when the flooding first occurred.

Less than 8 months ago, their chapter consisted of only 8 men according to Nunez and they were in danger of losing their charter. Now they’re back on their feet, helping their community revive as well.

“We’ve come together through so much. It feels great to help out the community. I love seeing the guys help give back,” said Nunez.