Cape Girardeau native raises funds to help Hurricane Ida victim

Brandon Diggins said he couldn't believe his luck last week when he had to flee to Atlanta from his hometown of Slidell, Louisiana. He survived Hurricane Katrina almost exactly 16 years ago, and now he had to evacuate his wife and three kids from another hurricane.

"I just went through Katrina," Diggins said. "Why am I going through this again?"

Hurricane Ida made landfall Aug. 29 in Louisiana, and still hundreds of thousands of homes are without power. On Wednesday, the Louisiana Department of Health reported 15 people have died in the state as a result of the hurricane.

When Diggins returned to his house Monday, he found a tree collapsed onto its roof, his car sustained damage and his 10-year-old daughter's bedroom was destroyed. The hurricane also wrecked the roof of a gym Diggins owns in New Orleans called CCPO Fitness Center.

Cape Girardeau-native Kaleisha Walker heard of Diggins' plight on Facebook. The two knew of each other through an online mastermind group for entrepreneurs. They only met in-person a couple of times, but Walker said she wanted to help.

She posted a fundraiser on Facebook on Friday evening with a goal to raise $1,000 for her friend in Louisiana. By the next morning, strangers who had never met Diggins had donated $270.

"I was just completely blown away," Diggins said. "It was beautiful to see our community come together and do that for someone they don't even know."

As of presstime, Walker's fundraiser has raised $640 for Diggins and his family.

Diggins said he was grateful to know people cared about him after what he and his family went through. In addition to his daughter, Diggins has two sons, ages 7 and 1. Their home in Slidell was the first house Diggins and his wife owned together.

"Sometimes, it's really hard to find help during events like these," Diggins said. "I'm just thankful for this opportunity to have a backbone through others."

Diggins and his family have plans to move forward. They'll fix their house and work hard to regain normalcy, Diggins said.

"That's the only thing we can do at this point," Diggins said. "[We're] starting over and pushing harder than we did before."