Top left: Kwase Stevenson Jr.
Top right: "This kind of thing shows you who you are," says Jeremy "Mudbug" Crawford, 35, a Navy vet and contractor. "I will never say it's what Baton Rouge needed, but I'm seeing the best of humanity after the worst of nature."
Bottom: Katie Miner, along with her husband Nick, recently remodeled their home off Juban Road and watched as 6 feet of water destroyed everything.
Friends Zoey, 10, and Katelynn, 11, helped with cleanup. Zoey: "Seeing everyone have to deal with it makes me the most sad." Katelynn: "I'm just happy that everyone is helping."
Top left: Aston and Lex Thompson help their father Andrew clean out Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Irreplaceable icons from the church are being sent to those who learned to restore such items after Hurricane Katrina. "I grew up in a Greek Orthodox church," says Andrew, "and I am committed to ensuring my kids have the same opportunity."
Top right: Daryl Penny, a missionary to Mexico, saw his house sustain flooding there just weeks before his home in Baton Rouge took in water. He returned to the States to salvage what he could.
Bottom: "I am a small businessman," says Michael Dunbar. "I lost my home. I have three storage units, all of them under water. My prayers go out to those who are not as fortunate as I. Pick up the pieces. Blessings to all."
"It's not just the things thrown away. It's the memories tied to those things. My whole life is in trash bags on my lawn." --Dara Hughes (above), a 33-year-old dental hygienist who, along with her parents' home and her sister's home, lost everything in the flood
Top: Chris Daves, 25, is a National Guardsman. "Me and my buddy came to help out a fellow Armyman. That's what we do."
Bottom left: Myles Johnson
Bottom right: Jody Mills, 17, a Lee Contractors employee, came from Hammond to help.
Thousands of 82-year-old Hilton Pray's photographs (above) were damaged after 4 feet of water filled his home off of Greenwell Springs.
Top: "Do you know what the difference is between winners and losers? Trying." --D'Lonzo Brown
Bottom left: "On the fly, I created Louisiana Flood Love through money donated from everyone," says Natalie, shown here with her husband Matt. While their own home didn't flood, they felt called to provide cleaning supplies to others. "I have delivered relief supplies across the Southeast. I'm on day 5, and I will go until no one needs help."
Bottom right: "I knew everything was going to be OK when a flask of 25-year-old scotch floated up next to me," says Rusty Martin, a retired boat captain and owner of a U.S. Coast Guard licensing facility. Martin got 3 feet of water in his home; not knowing what to expect as the floodwater rose, he tied a boat to his second-floor balcony.
Top left: Garret Langlois at his grandmother's house, which took in 3 inches of water
Top right: Kwasi Stevenson Sr.
Bottom: "He put Mama on the highest lawn mower they had while he went back in for her insulin." -- Bonnie Birch (second from left) of her father Hilton Pray (left); also pictured are Ashley Birch and Heather Madden. Pray had amassed countless antiques and mementos in a replica village built in his backyard.
"I have made new friends. People I don't even know are helping." --Daniel Crump (above, center), who, along with his sister Meghan Hansen, welcomed strangers into their grandparents' home to aid with cleanup
Credits:
Photos by Collin Richie and Frank McMains