FOX 8 Gr8 neighbor delivers comfort to Hurricane Laura victims

LAPLACE, La. (WVUE) - A Laplace woman and a small army of volunteers are doing their part to comfort Hurricane Laura victims in Southwest Louisiana.

This month’s FOX 8 great neighbor is donating time, love and a much appreciated necessity.

It didn’t take long for Loretta Webre to answer the call. She knew something as simple as a pillow could mean so much.

“So I looked at it as, it’s a little source of comfort for these people who’ve lost so much, and it’s a very little bitty thing,” says Webre.

She not only needed pillows, but pillowcases. She put the word out on social media and support started pouring in from all over the country.

Webre says, “There’s a lady in Missouri who contacted me to send pillows, another lady in Kentucky, someone in Arizona shipped pillowcases and in Mississippi, a church sent 150 pillowcases that they did as part of a pillowcase challenge.”

She says she’s getting pillows and pillowcases from everywhere, plus donations that she spends wisely. And she won’t use just plain old white pillowcases.

“No my husband thinks that’s ridiculous,” Webre laughs. “Why don’t we have white pillowcases? Because they’re not fun. You want something fun at the end of the day when you’ve been working all day. You want to look at something that makes you smile.”

With the help of her family and a few lifelong friends, Webre has been working feverishly to get unique pillowcases made. They match the patterns and sew them from scratch. Webre’s daughter Dolores does the ironing. The pillows are then stuffed into big bags and sent off to storm victims. Volunteers make the deliveries.

“I tell everybody God called me to do this and once it leaves my hands, it’s back in his hands and it’s up to him to get it where it’s got to be,” Webre says.

Webre has been down this road before, first during the 2016 floods in the Baton Rouge area and again in 2017 for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

For this FOX 8 great neighbor, the reward is immeasurable.

She says, “It feels good. Just makes me feel like I’m doing something I’m supposed to be doing. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I was called to do it.”

She isn’t in need of any more donations. She says she would rather people give money to church groups or organizations that are cooking for storm victims. Webre just loves knowing she’s made a small difference for those who’ve lost almost everything.

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