The Tulane University community is deeply saddened by the historic flooding in Louisiana. We are committed to trying to help all affected members of our community as well as other residents of the state. If you have experienced hardships due to flooding, please see the resources below. For all other members of our community, here are a number of ways that you can help.
Please reach out to us and tell us about your situation so we can help you. We will do everything we can to help you get to campus and ensure you will be academically successful in this difficult time.
- Case Management and Victim Support Services (CMVSS) is a single place to go for assistance for students in need of support. Contact them if you are having trouble getting to campus, need to replace belongings or need any other assistance.
- The Tulane University Financial Aid Office stands ready to follow our established protocol for assisting students whose families have been impacted financially due to natural disasters. Please contact your financial aid counselor for more information.
The Workforce Management Office is helping Tulane employees who have suffered losses in the flood. Please stay in touch with your supervisor to keep them apprised of your situation and to stay up-to-date about resources available from the university.
- Counselors at the Optum, the Tulane Employee Assistance Hotline (866-248-4096), are available to help you during this time of heightened stress and anxiety. If you are hearing-impaired please dial 711 before dialing the Hotline number. You may also find the Employee Assistance Program's website helpful. The access code for this site is: Tulane.
- Our health insurance provider, United Healthcare, is allowing prescription refills to be made early to help residents in impacted areas.
Ways You Can Help
Emergency Scholarship Fund
Tulane is currently working with affected students to provide appropriate financial assistance covering the cost of attendance. Donations to this emergency fund go directly to impacted students to help recovering the loss of personal items, computers and books. Your generous gifts, no matter the amount, will be greatly appreciated by students we are able to award and thankfully welcomed by the University. For more details on donating to Tulane's Emergency Scholarship program, please visit the make-a-gift website and enter "emergency scholarship" in the "Other" field. Feel free to contact the Tulane Development Office at 504-865-5794 if you have any questions.
School Supply Donations
From Aug. 25 to Sept. 2, the Community Action Council of Tulane University Students (CACTUS) student organization and the Center For Public Service will be collecting school supplies for the students and schools affected by the recent flooding. Supplies can be dropped off at the Tulane University Bookstore in the Lavin-Bernick Center and at the Center for Public Service office in Alcee Fortier Hall during normal business hours. Supplies will be given to the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and Team Comeback.
Volunteer and Donation Opportunities
The United Way of Southeast Louisiana needs help organizing donated supplies and help with distribution to their community partners. Visit their website for continually updated information about relief efforts and how you can help. Volunteer Louisiana is also tracking volunteer and donation opportunities. The Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Foundation for Louisiana and other agencies are also providing relief for flood victims.
Tulane Messages and Stories
Sept. 1 - New Wave - Managing the emotional toll of disasters
Scenes of devastation after natural disasters may affect us in the long term, even if we haven’t experienced them firsthand. Find out how to minimize feelings of helplessness and despair.
Aug. 31 - New Wave - Volunteers from Tulane gut flooded Baton Rouge home
Staff from the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane University partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge to clean out a flooded home. View the video.
Aug. 23 - New Wave - Tulane helps its own and others recover from flood
Members of the Tulane University community are helping those affected by the recent floods in Louisiana. From gutting homes to providing school supplies for children, Tulane students, faculty and staff are lending their hearts and hands to the ongoing recovery efforts.
Aug. 17 - Message from President Fitts - Helping our flood victims
We continue to closely follow the unprecedented flooding that has devastated our neighboring parishes, which are home to many of our students, faculty and staff.
Aug. 15 - Message from President Fitts - Help for colleagues in flooded areas
We have been closely monitoring the unprecedented and tragic flooding that has impacted our surrounding parishes over the last five days. Many of these areas are home to members of the Tulane family.
Tulanians Lend a Helping Hand
Gutting houses, organizing food drives and book drives, fostering pets, raising money…. there are so many ways you can get involved in the relief efforts in South Louisiana. Here are just a few ways Tulanians have been pitching in.
- Tulane staff and students worked in Denham Springs to gut houses in an effort organized by Michael Dalle Molle, a 2013 graduate. View the photos.
- A group at the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine has served as a collection and distribution point for fellow athletic trainers across the state affected by the floods. In addition to over $1000 in clothing, baby supplies, cleaning supplies, plastic bins, food, and personal supplies, over $1200 in gift cards have been distributed to the athletic trainers who were affected by the flood. Doctors, staff, athletic trainers (and members of their families), as well as the Greenie Gals and numerous others provided donations to this effort.
- Tulane Study Abroad Advisor Joshua Burns volunteered in Gonzales to help gut an elderly couple’s home. Says Burns, "As a non-native Louisianan, this is why I love living here: neighbors helping neighbors and the genuine appreciation people have when you take action to help people in need. I know that those same people up in Gonzales would be down here helping me and my neighbors if something were to happen.”
- Susan Derocha of the Tulane Department of Ophthalmology sang in a concert benefiting the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana’s Disaster Relief Fund. Singers from choirs around New Orleans raised over $2000. “Every penny went to teachers to rebuild and replenish the supplies they lost in the flood,” says Derocha.
- Miriam Eisenstat, a Tulane alumna (Masters of Public Health and Masters of Disaster Resilience Leadership, 2016) saw a need for an open source living directory for giving and getting help after the floods. She helped launch http://lafloodrecovery.org/ and has spent the last several weeks volunteering with cleanup efforts. Read more about her work on the DRLA website.
- Victoria Topham, Class of 2020, assisted in meal deliveries for flooded neighbors in Lafayette, LA. Victoria's family owns the local restaurant, The Jambalaya Shoppe, which assisted with meals for shelter evacuees and families cleaning up homes in her neighborhood.
- Kappa Sigma spent a day gutting a flooded house in Denham Springs with the United Saints (a New Orleans based non-profit). In addition, they were able to donate over $300 to The Red Cross for flood relief at a recent Zephyrs game charity night.
