Shelter Closure
To: The University Community
From: Stephen T. Hulbert, President
Yesterday afternoon just before 5:00 p.m., the last remaining evacuation shelters closed on the campus of Nicholls State University. After an intensive week of individual and family counseling by Red Cross professionals and other volunteers, approximately 25 remaining evacuees were moved to a shelter in Houma. The consolidation of the Nicholls’ shelters with that in Houma will permit mental health professionals and relocation specialists of the Red Cross and other volunteer organizations to focus their concerted effort to help the remaining evacuees find a new home.
I want to use this means to acknowledge the many contributions of the University’s staff and students alike throughout the past 55 days. Through the extraordinary generosity of University community members and, along with that of hundreds upon hundreds of citizens from the Thibodaux and broader Lafourche Parish communities, together we have served upwards of 10,000 to 12,000 evacuees.
As the Stopher and Shaver shelters closed, Red Cross volunteers from across the United States and Canada offered their thanks for the wonderfully kind treatment that they had received while on the Nicholls campus and during their time in Thibodaux. Similar comments were often heard from appreciative evacuees over the past eight weeks.
Each of us at Nicholls and in the broader community has reason to be very proud of all that we have accomplished together. Thank you!