U.S. Congressman Garret Graves in Louisiana's 6th District Helps with Cleanup in Moss Bluff, LA

By: Casey M. Jones

It was Friday, September 11, 2020 and it was the second location I visited in the time I have spent in Louisiana voluntarily cutting trees for people affected by the storm, free of charge, and it was anything but a typical day to say the least. Although when I made my way toward a church in Moss Bluff, Louisiana that I had never attended before and where I didn't know anyone, I had no idea what was about to happen. I was heading over there to that church because a friend of mine had suggested going there to see if someone needed my help.

When I arrived there were some people moving around in the front of the buildings in the parking lot and driveway area, there were canopies setup, and there were a few people randomly coming and going. I approached two men and asked if the pastor was around, and one of them replied, "That's me, I am the pastor. Can I help you?", and I introduced myself and explained why I was there. The church was "Moss Bluff Pentecostal" and the pastor was "Jared Pugh". The pastor spent a few minutes on his phone looking for someone who needed help from someone with a chainsaw, and he found an elderly woman in his church who needed trees and limbs cleared, gave me the address, gave me a hotdog and I was on my way.

When I arrived at the address the pastor gave me, it was obvious that I was in the right place, as there was plenty of cutting that needed to be done. The driveway was fairly long and the woman's daughter was standing in the driveway near the house talking to an insurance adjuster and I rolled down my window and introduced myself. As I was sitting there talking to them, another vehicle pulled into the driveway behind me and we had no idea who it was, so I went ahead and pulled out of the way and started taking out my saw and getting things ready to start working.  The man behind me pulled in next to me and parked.

He walked up to the daughter and I and introduced himself, he said, "Hi. I'm Garret. The pastor sent me over here to help."  I told him hello and introduced myself, then told him I was going to start cutting. He started dragging branches and limbs or whatever he could carry down the driveway and piling it up by the road. I informed him that I had a first aid kit in my backpack just in case anything happened to either of us he would know it was there.

The heat was brutal just as it had been the past several days, and I was able to cut for a little bit and then I had to drink water and cool off for a little bit. This guy Garret was a machine, he had a pace that was hard to keep up with and I told him that he should take breaks and drink water to avoid overheating, but he just replied that he was okay, he said it in a way that let me know that he knew my concern was genuine and continued dragging trees to the road. I honestly couldn't tell if he was older than me or younger, but I figured we were probably about the same age, so I asked him how old he was. He was older than me, and I said, "Dang man, you're in way better shape than I am and I'm younger than you are. You're doing good..."

U.S. Representative Garret Graves from Louisiana's 6th District

as he is doing volunteer work for a complete stranger on the other

side of the state from his district. (Photo: Casey M Jones)

Throughout the day we talked here and there when I wasn't cutting, he seemed to be a real nice guy, but didn't really talk too much at first.  At some point I glanced at his vehicle and the tags seemed to be different for some reason, almost as if they were government tags but I wasn't sure. There was a faded election sticker on his window with his first and last name on it, although he hadn't yet mentioned his last name to me, and his name isn't one of the most common names so I just assumed that maybe he had run for Congress at some point in the past. By this time I had already snapped the photo of him because I suspected he might be a Congressman, and was going to check it out when I got to a place where I could do that. I asked him about it, "So that sticker on your window, are you running for Congress?" He was tying his shoe when I asked him, and he paused for a second but never looked up, and said, "Something like that..."  I said, "Oh, you're in Congress aren't you?" He admitted that he was in fact a US Representative for Louisiana's 6th House District. 

He did start talking a bit more after I found out who he was, but didn't really say much about anything related to his office.  I don't think that he was really expecting for someone to figure out who he was but seemed to feel a bit more comfortable after I did because he wasn't trying to keep that hidden anymore. I jokingly said, "Never would have thought you were a Congressman, you work too damn hard and get too much done.", and laughed for a second and told him, "Nah, I'm just kidding. I know a lot of you guys work hard, yall are busy and have a lot to deal with. I've met many Congressmen and spoken to many of them about issues as well, as I've done quite a bit of advocacy for my youngest daughter. She has a severe developmental disability and doesn't talk, but she understands us when we do. She is a sweet kid."

I asked him, "What brings you to this area of the state, do you have friends or family here?" He said, "No, I've just been through it and I know what it's like. It sucks." I said, "So you just drove over here and stopped at a random church in Moss Bluff, LA just to help someone you have never met before clear trees off their property doing manual labor for free?"  He just nodded and had a slight but humble grin when he did. Of course, I couldn't really say anything about that as it was the same exact thing I had done myself about 10 or 15 minutes earlier than he had, only I drove in from the opposite direction and came from Texas rather than from the Baton Rouge area, and I'm also not a US Congressman, but aside from those two minor differences our reasons for being there certainly seemed to be the same reasons.  I told him, "Man, that's alright..."

We both worked from the time we got there until it was almost dark and I told him I had to go because I still had to get somewhere and setup a tent. It was too late for me to do that with any daylight left though, but I was pretty wore out from swinging that chainsaw around all day and as usual, it was mainly my legs and feet that needed a break. I'm pretty sure that Garret never even broke a sweat the entire time he was out there, which is pretty impressive considering that he worked his butt off almost non-stop for several hours in that heat.  The man made it look easy and effortless, and I certainly appreciated having the help because I couldn't have done both the cutting and the moving everything to the roadside, it would have been too much.

The point we were at when it got dark left me no choice but to come back the following day as there were still very large branches of a big oak tree broken and hanging with limbs still partially blocking the driveway. I didn't really like leaving it like that, but it was too much to finish before dark so I was certain I'd be there again the following day. We were almost done, and between the two of us we did transform that place from a somewhat hopeless mess into a clean yard again. I asked him if he'd be back tomorrow, and he said he wasn't sure, they'd be back in session on Monday. I told him thanks for helping today, and that it was good to meet him, and that if he ever decided to run for POTUS he'd have my vote for sure.  I asked him if he would mind if I told anyone who he was, and he didn't say anything; it wasn't a yes and it wasn't a no. I told him, "Well, I'm gonna tell my wife for sure." He laughed for a moment, and I hopped in the truck and headed back to the church to find somewhere to setup a tent and sleep.

I can't even fathom what the odds are of having a day with the events which occured on this day, but I'm pretty sure the odds of this happening to someone are stacked highly against it; in fact, I'm fairly certain that most people will not have a day like this one in their lifetimes. For as unlikely a scenario as it is, it isn't the first time in my life that seemingly impossible situations have played out during one of my days in this place. I've personally witnessed many unlikely events take place and every time I do it still shocks me to some degree.

I do not believe in chance however; I believe things happen for a reason, especially a situation like this one where I showed up at a church I had never been to, didn't know anyone, and then went to the address the pastor gave me. Minutes later, Garret showed up at the same church, he had never been there, didn't know anyone, got sent to the same address. I will say this, the people in the 6th District in Louisiana are lucky to have a representative like Garret. I have met quite a few legislators over the years and this guy is humble, and he works his butt off, and he is just genuine. You couldn't ask for a better person to fill a public office.

Anyway, I waited a couple of days before I told anyone who Garret was. When I told the pastor he said he had no idea because Garret only mentioned his first name and didn't really say too much; he got the address from the pastor and left as soon as he had it. The entire time Garret and I were working out at that elderly lady's home he only mentioned one thing about anything related to the federal government, and that is that there should have been a bigger response from the government in the wake of the storm than what he saw going on. He did mention that one of the best things that people can do to help the recovery process is to volunteer at a church because churches do get a lot done in situations such as these. I would have to agree with him on that, for sure.

And the reason I decided to create this post is because I feel that it is inspirational to know about it. It isn't often that someone in Garret's position does something like this, and I feel like it gives people some hope in a situation where hope does a lot of good, and because of that I kind of felt obligated to share this.