FREE OCTOBER 2021 | VOL. 15 • ISSUE 10 | POVHOUMA.COM
CONTENTS |
OCTOBER 2021 • VOLUME 15 • ISSUE 10
table of
Page 12
Page 18
12 LOUISIANA RESILIENCY Hello Foundation provides relief for bayou community.
EXTRAS
18 BLESS YOUR HEART
Local nonprofit meets the needs of South Lafourche.
ON THE COVER
NOTE 06 PUBLISHER’S We Are Resilient
08
much needed food and supplies.
WORD, YA HEARD
[ va-moos ] verb (used without object)
Say What?
to leave hurriedly or quickly; decamp.
34 THE OBSERVER Bayou Strong
WORD ON THE STREET
36 WE SUPPORT A HEALTHIER FUTURE
Vamoose hurricane season, we’re done with you!
Fall Screenings Can Lead to Early Detection and Successful Outcomes
The children vamoosed into the darkness with their trick or treat bags in hand.
THE SCOPE 38 UNDER Seeing the Smaller Picture Sponsored by Synergy Bank
PEOPLE OF ACTION 28 Rotary Clubs join together to provide
VAMOOSE
INTERVUE
42 LOOK TWICE
Page 28
Old Glory flies high on Isle de Jean Charles. Photo: Misty Leigh McElroy
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VISIT US ONLINE: povhouma.com
Rebuilding Stronger
Terrebonne General Health System is committed to rebuilding stronger to serve the bayou region. Although our facility received catastrophic damage due to Hurricane Ida, and had to evacuate patients, we have remained committed to serving our community. Emergency Services were restored in a matter of days, and we are now able to provide essential healthcare services including cancer care, cardiology and obstetrics. Our team is working around the clock to restore our physical buildings, but we are more than bricks and mortar. We are hearts united in continuing to provide exceptional healthcare with compassion. Like our community, we are resilient, and remain ready to serve when you need us.
™
For the latest updates visit tghealthsystem.com October 2021 3 povhouma.com
What is your favorite Halloween candy?
PUBLISHER Dark chocolate Kit Kats
Brian Rushing
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Mary Downer Ditch EDITORIAL
Drew Miller ASSOCIATE EDITOR Heidi Guidry STAFF WRITER
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Contact Rusty at (985) 688-7334 1132 Cottage Dr. Houma, LA Copyright ©2021 Rushing Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part of editorial and/or graphic content is strictly prohibited.
BUSINESS ADDRESS: Rushing Media, P.O. Box 5013, Houma, LA 70361 • 985.868.7515 Point of Vue magazine cannot be responsible for the return of unsolicited material such as manuscripts or photographs, with or without the inclusion of a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Information in this publication is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. The opinions expressed in Point of Vue magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Rushing Media, our employees or any of our advertisers. No employee or family member(s) of employees of Rushing Media are permitted to partake in any contests, giveaways or sweepstakes.
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WE WIL GET THROUGH THIS. Our hearts are with you.
CARDIO.COM
PUBLISHER’S NOTE |
MARY DOWNER DITCH • ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
WE ARE
Resilient
month from Hurricane Ida’s landfall. I am sitting in my backyard, working from home, to the rhythmic sounds of hammers as nearby roofs in my neighborhood are replaced. My area was lucky; we got power back relatively quickly, along with the internet. I am fully and almost painfully aware of how blessed my family is in the wake of such a monstrous event.
Have you ever looked closely at the Louisiana state flag? Sure, we all know there is a pelican in a nest with some babies, right? But do you know what the image is referred to as or what it represents? The Pelican in her Piety. The Pelican in her Piety has long been referenced as a symbol of self-sacrifice and charity. The image features the mother pelican tearing from her own flesh and body to feed her young. Sacrificing herself to care for others. Our state flag, which was last modified in 2010, features three distinct drops of blood, bright red against the pelican’s snowy white feathers.
What better representation of the people of our state, of our parishes, than this? So many times as I handed out food and water, our people passed on certain things to be able to give to another with a greater need. Story after story has come from the bayou communities of individuals who pass on a blessing that they themselves so obviously needed to another that they have deemed less fortunate. What other community other than ours would give so selflessly to help others? Day after day, we have picked ourselves up, just to help our neighbors who are in need. As I write this column on 9/29, we are EXACTLY one
As associate publisher for Rushing Media, I also oversee the production of another print publication, Bayou Business Monthly, and our parent company, The Times of HoumaThibodaux. It has been through our work with The Times that we have been able to tell so many stories and provide much needed information to the bayou communities. Our staff spent many long days in these communities, telling your stories, then setting aside the notebook and camera to lend a hand in serving food or handing out supplies. I am endlessly proud of our team for the work they have done this last month, setting aside their own worries to help those in need. This issue was both hard and wonderful to put together. To see the devastation first hand was heartbreaking. To hear the stories of resilience and neighbors helping neighbors brought joy to my heart. May we always remain #BayouStrong. POV
October 2021 6 povhouma.com
Our team is growing to Our team is growing to better serve you. better serve you. Ochsner St. Anne provides the most advanced and comprehensive range of treatment options in the region with one goal in mind – to help you or Ochsner St. Anne provides the most advanced and comprehensive range your loved one stay healthy. of treatment options in the region with one goal in mind – to help you or your loved one stay healthy. Our team is growing to better serve you. We would like to welcome Endocrinologist Juan Sarmiento, MD. Our team is growing to better serve you. We would like to welcome Endocrinologist Juan Sarmiento, MD. As an Endocrinologist, Dr. Sarmiento provides treatment for a variety of As an Endocrinologist, Dr. Sarmiento conditions such as diabetes, thyroid provides treatment for a variety of diseases, infertility, growth issues, conditions such as diabetes, thyroid metabolic disorders, osteoporosis and diseases, infertility, growth issues, disorders in the hormone-producing metabolic disorders, osteoporosis adrenal glands and pituitary glandand disorders in the hormone-producing just to name a few. adrenal glands and pituitary gland just to name a few. Ochsner Specialty Health Center - Raceland 141 Twin Oaks | Raceland, LA 70394 Ochsner Specialty Health Center - Raceland 141 Twin Oaks | Raceland, LA 70394 Ochsner Specialty Health Center - Morgan City 1302 Lakewood Drive | Suite 100 | Morgan City, LA 70380 Ochsner Specialty Health Center - Morgan City 1302 Lakewood Drive | Suite 100 | Morgan City, LA 70380 To schedule an appointment, call 985-537-2666 or visit ochsner.org/schedule. Online scheduling is available. To schedule an appointment, call 985-537-2666 or visit ochsner.org/schedule. Online scheduling is available.
INTERVUE |
SAY WHAT?
The Best Choice
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REHAB
Hurricane Ida brought our community together, with neighbors helping neighbors. What are some of the positive things you have witnessed in your community?
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Through the darkest times of Hurricane Ida, our community has really shown that we are stronger than any natural disaster. I personally have seen neighbors who have never spoken to each other pulling together resources to help each other get through the darkest of times. I’ve seen neighbors helping to tarp each others’ roofs, cleaning up debris in others’ yards, providing meals to each other, a ride to the closest distribution center, or just a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen! In addition, I have witnessed households combining because one is unlivable and the other is not. In the first few days following the storm when there was no reliable communication, or basic necessities such as water, food and electricity, these neighbors were getting together to figure out how to help each other survive!
JONATHAN As we travel through the bayou communities of Lafourche and Terrebonne offering assistance to those most impacted by the storm, I am amazed at the selflessness of many of the people we encounter. These people often tell me, “I lost a lot, but this person lost more. You should help them instead of me.” Those people are the ones that inspire me to do more.
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We’ve witnessed an outpouring of emotional and financial support for Lafourche Parish from around the country. We’ve seen our community members place the needs of their neighbors before their own. We have seen community members volunteering to hand out supplies to the public even while their own homes are devastated.
SYE I have yet to meet or speak to a single person in the Bayou Region who was not affected by Hurricane Ida. Despite all of us dealing with damage to our homes or businesses or disruption in our personal lives, our community is out there united donating, volunteering or assisting others in one way or another. Our law firm handled insurance claims in Southwest Louisiana after Hurricane Laura. We hosted several food and distribution drives from donations received from our Bayou Region community. Since Hurricane Ida, the Southwest Louisiana residents have returned the favor and sent us much needed food, household items and clothes that have been passed out throughout the Bayou Region. We are not alone in this journey. United we will rebuild!
KATIE I have witnessed “the helpers” of our community hard at work taking care of our neighbors. From individuals stepping up to organizations like Rotary clubs feeding thousands. One thing is for sure - our community takes care of each other like no other.
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BY HEIDI GUIDRY Resiliency comes in all shapes and forms, but no one comes together during hard times like Louisiana Cajuns. After Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf Coast on August 26, 2021, its people immediately went into rebuild mode and haven’t stopped since then. Jonathan Foret wears many hats and one of them is being President of the Helio Foundation. The foundation began initially with the simple mission of serving the underserved. Mom’s Pantry came to fruition at Nicholls State University and select elementary schools. The main objective of the
program is to provide food for students in need. Guidance counselors in the participating schools help identify students in need and Mom’s Pantry gives snacks to take home. Mom’s Pantry was the main objective with the Helio Foundation until Hurricane Ida was chugging its way towards home.
destruction that had been left behind by Ida. In the middle of trying to clean their own properties and making sure it didn’t rain in their homes, they realized they needed to try to do more for the people who have lost everything. This brought on the idea of starting fundraising efforts.
Before the storm hit, Jonathan had a conversation with the foundation’s Executive Director, Reagan Creppel about the potential impacts of the storm and if the organization would consider using Helio as a part of relief efforts. After the storm passed, they saw the
A mutual friend connected the foundation with Baton Rouge based Mimosa Handcrafted. The company is an employer of 11 full-time employees including owner Madeline Ellis and her husband Dawson. Madeline was born in Thibodaux and lived in Houma as a child,
October 2021 12 povhouma.com
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and although she moved away young, she still was up and down the bayous with family. The company designs and casts their pieces in-house which started as an after-work hobby but has since grown into a full-time gig for the owners. Madeline says that they sustained little damage from Ida, but watching friends, family, and neighbors go through the aftermath, moved them to try to help as best as they could. When looking for a nonprofit to donate to, they knew they wanted to support a smaller nonprofit organization and wanted it to be someone they can trust. She asked a friend, Heather Guidry from Vacherie,
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who just so happened to have graduated with Jonathan and sat on the Helio board during the organization’s first year. Mimosa Handcrafted owners wanted to be able to donate 100 percent of proceeds to relief efforts. Although they wanted to be on the ground helping with recovery, they knew fundraising would be their way of helping. They chose an ASL I Love You pendant necklace, besides being the best sentiment, it was a small piece that could be mass-produced. They started with 200 pieces which sold out within an hour, so they decided to up the production to 2,000 pieces. They were surprised to find out they sold out of those within 48 hours! Their relief efforts were able to raise and donate $50,000 to the Helio Foundation to be given directly in the hands of those who need it. They also were able to donate $1,200 to bayoufund.org. Alongside the monetary donations, they hosted a collection drive for donations which
led to being able to fill a flatbed trailer with supplies they delivered to the Helio Foundation in Point aux Chene. When they sold out of the ASL necklaces, they switched their overall site donations so that 1 percent of all sales made on their website goes to the Helio Foundation through the end of 2021. Madeline says that she wants residents to know we’re all in this together, “You are not alone and you don’t have to do this alone. If you need help but aren’t sure where to start, contact someone at the Helio Foundation. They are literally looking for people to help. There are also so many people who care and want to help but aren’t sure where to start or how to do it, groups like Helio are the connection point on both sides.” The foundation has been receiving funds from multiple sources including Hancock Whitney Bank, The Greater New Orleans Foundation, and a GoFundMe account started by Chauvin
October 2021 14 povhouma.com
native Melissa Martin who grew up with Jonathan. Melissa owns The Mosquito Supper Club, a farm table restaurant in New Orleans where she was inspired by her roots in Chauvin. She also published a cookbook, “Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou” that is sold worldwide. After Hurricane Ida hit, she went home to Chauvin to help her parents where she spent many nights without electricity. She says the devastation was nothing like she’s seen before, “my house has flooded many times down the bayou growing up, but this was something that was very different.” She wanted to find a way to help her hometown in a way that can use her brand positively because she says she felt as if she was using up her parents resources while in the area. She has an amazing networking skill that has managed to propel fundraising to new heights for the foundation. Melissa
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FLOOR COVERING gathered contacts in her network, connected them to the Helio Foundation, and started bayoufund.org which has raised more than $500,000. Jonathan says Melissa’s restaurant and her cookbook all have to do with where they grew up. “It’s about the recipes of family, about catching shrimp on your family’s boat. We both grew up with the same experience and we both had a very strong sense of place when it comes to Chauvin in particular, but also the bayou region.” He commented on how it has been great to reconnect with her because she has been able to engage her networks along with her family. Her brother, Lee, has also been able to create creative campaigns and her sisters, Maria and Mallory, have been able to add creative insights to the efforts as well. “They’ve really stepped up to the plate and been able to help their hometown. It’s been really rewarding to be able to work with them,” he says. There was an immediate need following the storm for people to be able to begin recovery. Other organizations, such as FEMA, take time to go through the process, but the foundation recognized residents needed help now rather than later. Residents didn’t have electricity, internet, cell service. The foundation was able to use donations as $400 mini-grants that were given directly to residents. Jonathan
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says it has been hard because many of the residents are displaced because their homes have been destroyed. The foundation also wants to expand in other ways to help such as laundry services. They have also developed new partnerships after Ida hit, including Operation Airdrop. Through Jonathan’s work with the Wetlands Discovery Center, he befriended folks in Colorado that worked with the center to develop and produce educational programs that take place in elementary and high schools. This partnership led to an introduction to someone in Colorado who flies a plane for Operation Airdrop. Jonathan describes the program as the Cajun Navy, but instead of boats, they have airplanes. The group flew supplies to the foundation three days after Ida. Jonathan says they are so grateful because they simply didn’t have access
to the type of supplies needed in the beginning such as diapers, formula, and feminine products. Another specific shortage they had was 200 amp electrical boxes. When poles and trees fell during the storm, they pulled service lines out of people’s homes. This problem led to houses not receiving power despite their neighbors being restored. The 200 amp electrical boxes were scarce along the coast, but Operation Airdrop was able to gather one hundred of the electrical boxes to the foundation so they can help to get power back to these homes. Disaster Recovery was not a part of the foundation’s original wheelhouse, but this has been something that Jonathan says they learned organically, and as they go forward, as they find out what people need and how to fulfill those needs, Jonathan says he believes
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they get better at relief efforts as the work continues. They will continue to provide Mom’s Pantry because it is important especially as schools open. He says anyone who has access to resources should be engaged in helping build our community back to help make it better. He says that the time is now to help build our community back, “We have an opportunity, even though it’s so hard to see that opportunity right now. It’s just so hard right now, but we are going to have the opportunity to do things a little bit differently which will end up lessening our vulnerability to the risk that is going to come with future storms because this isn’t going to be the last one that we deal with. That’s the reality of living on the coast in Louisiana, we always have hurricanes, and we’re good at them... but this one is hard to bounce back from.” POV
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In the few months after the first case of COVID-19 was announced in Louisiana — some of the darkest days of the pandemic comprised of closed doors, stay-at-home orders and rising angst — health care workers battled the novel coronavirus under a bevy of unknowns. Jeray Jarreau, a lawyer from Larose, saw the toll the virus was taking on her friends in the medical field. “One of my friends came to me, and she was concerned, asking, ‘if I die, what happens to my children?’ and ‘who’s gonna take care of them,’” Jeray remembers. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’m sitting behind a desk at a lawyer’s office. I’m not out on the front lines like this girl is, risking her life every day.’ I
wanted to help, and my friends and my family wanted to help. We just didn’t know how to help.” In May of 2020, Jeray found her way to help through the Bayou Community Foundation (BCF), a local nonprofit offering COVID grant opportunities. Thus, she obtained 501(c)(3) status for her organization, Bless Your Heart, and applied for a BCF grant. Right away, the newly-formed organization got to work, delivering essential workers snack baskets and providing the public with masks, hand sanitizer and other needed supplies. Bless Your Heart’s efforts then shifted toward assisting local schools as members aimed to see children back in
the classroom. The nonprofit purchased infrared thermometers for South Lafourche feeder schools and aided local principals with other supplies needed to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations. And the organization stepped up to help their community in several ways since then. Bless Your Heart consists of just five board members, Ross Jambon (Jeray’s brother), Hillary Danos, Luke Newman, Chris Brantley and Jeray. But every time it needs community support, it extends beyond its five members. “We believe that Bless Your Heart is really just an opportunity for the members of our community who want to help
HAVE CHANGED.
an opportunity to help. And so, the members of our community who want to donate to a specific cause, we give them an opportunity to donate to that cause, and they always come in more than I could even imagine,” Jeray says. “We did a presale of a hat and a necklace for a little girl in our community who had over 40 anaphylactic allergies so that she can get some medical treatment. Our community just outpoured their support and raised like $6,000 for her. We did a cancer benefit for one of our friends, and we quadrupled our initial goal,” she continues. “When the Seacor Power sank off of Port Fourchon, their families had come into our community, and they left their homes with the clothes on their backs. So, we were able to buy them phone chargers, food, clothes, snacks...We were able to actually issue checks to each of the families.” Then came this past August, when the group’s biggest challenge revealed itself. Hurricane Ida struck southeast Louisiana as a destructive Category 4. With sustained winds of 150 mph and registered 170-plus-mph gusts, the lifealtering storm shattered the Lafourche Parish bayou communities — leaving destroyed homes, overturned vessels, scarce supplies and heartbreak in its wake.
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Jeray didn’t recognize her Larose neighborhood when she returned after evacuating. “I immediately didn’t know where I was: none of the houses looked the same, none of the trees looked the same, none of the cars looked the same. I was standing on my front porch, kind of in a daze,” she shares. “...And so, the farther we went down the bayou, just the worst it was.” Through her profession, she knows how impoverished the area is and how hungry local children are, regardless of Ida, Jeray says. “So, knowing what I know about pre-storm conditions, our www.houmafamilydental.com October 2021 19 povhouma.com
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nonprofit, before the storm hit landfall, was working on trying to arrange supplies to get down here because we knew that there would be a huge need.” Messages came pouring in from around the country once the organization posted the area’s needs on social media. Subsequently, thousands of supplies were rushed into South Lafourche Leonard J. Miller Jr. Airport in Galliano, which was operational shortly after the storm passed. Not one warehousing facility in the area had not sustained damage, Jeray says. So, for their first mass distribution event, Bless Your Heart and local volunteers spent a blistering Friday unloading and sorting supplies for their event the next day, Sept. 4, at Dufrene Building Materials in Cut Off. Then, they moved operations to the Larose Civic Center and by press time, had hosted two more large-scale distributions, providing such needed relief supplies as water, canned goods,
“We believe that Bless Your Heart is really just an opportunity for the members of our community who want to help an opportunity to help. And so the members of our community who want to donate to a specific cause, we give them an opportunity to donate to that cause, and they always come in more than I could even imagine,” toiletries, feminine products, power banks and cleaning supplies, among other items. On Sept. 10, the day before Bless Your Heart’s second distribution, the organization received eggs and bananas from Second Harvest Food Bank. Unable to refrigerate the foods, members quickly put the word out for folks to stop by and receive the donations. “This car of this family drove up. The baby is in a diaper, and the kids are in the back seat, hot, you can tell. We handed them the bananas, and you could tell that they had not eaten in a while — they were eating the bananas while we were handing them to them.
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If we were not there to accept supplies and get bananas out to the public, those kids would not have eaten that night,” Jeray recalls. “I can’t imagine more important work than that.” Another moving story Jeray shared happened before Bless Your Heart’s relief operation was in full swing. The Wednesday after the storm, Jeray and Ross checked on an elderly man who lived in a nearby apartment complex. His sister could not enter the parish at that time, so she reached out to them; with down communications, she didn’t know how he fared through the storm. “So, we drive up into this apartment complex, and they just come out like
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“If there’s some sort of a silver lining in all of this, it’s that it’s really brought everybody together like they just have a common goal of trying to help each other out. I feel like it’s really kind of rekindled that bond.”
ants. It was a bunch of elderly people who obviously rode out the storm in that apartment complex. The roofs were gone. They were like, ‘We’re on our last case of water...Do y’all have anything? Can you please send people to come help us,’” Jeray says. “None of them had transportation. They couldn’t leave.”
brother’s driveway with her husband and 3-year-old son. “My daughter, who’s 5, has epilepsy, and this whole thing has been really overwhelming to her...She doesn’t like to see the damage at our house...She’s been back and forth, but for the most part, she’s been at my in-laws’ in New Roads,” Jeray shares.
Jeray says the Ida survivors had no running water and were rationing food. Fortunately, Ross still had water in his truck, and the brother and sister gave them as much of it as they could. “And every time they had a hot meal distribution, or we had supply distributions, we would send people to that area because we knew that they were needing it,” Jeray says.
Being heavily involved in the foster care system through work, Jeray explains, her kids understand that there are children not as fortunate as them, and both of them have been to the distribution events to lend a helping hand. “Just yesterday, our neighbor had come walk over, and my son had two hot dogs. She said, ‘I want a hot dog. Can I have one?’ And he was so quick to give her a hot dog. And I was like, ‘Good, that’s exactly how you should be. If you have two, you definitely need to be giving one.’ We pray every day that we instill service in our children.”
In the weeks following the storm, Jeray and the other members of Bless Your Heart kept busy, dividing their time between dealing with damages at their homes and volunteering when their community needed them most. At least three of the five board members’ homes, including Jeray’s, had to be gutted. At press time, she had been living in a camper in her
In late September, Bless Your Heart members set the plans for their next endeavor to alleviate another burden local families faced. They began taking October 2021 22 povhouma.com
request forms for families in need of school uniforms, undergarments and school supplies for their students. “We had a lady who called yesterday; she and her children have the clothes on their back. And she said, ‘My son right now is wearing a size 32 pants with a rubber band around the bottom of it because he’s wearing someone else’s clothes,’” Jeray remembers. Among the despair Ida caused south Lafourche, Jeray believes there have been some signs of hope, witnessing people of different walks of life, sides of the aisle and beliefs uniting for the greater good. “I feel like the world wants to make it seem like everybody’s so divided...But really, it’s not,” she says. “If there’s some sort of a silver lining in all of this, it’s that it’s really brought everybody together like they just have a common goal of trying to help each other out. I feel like it’s really kind of rekindled that bond.” To learn more about Bless Your Heart and how to get involved, visit facebook.com/blessyourheartnonprofit. POV
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BY HEIDI GUIDRY A Chauvin family, including two children, sat in a tent adjacent to what was once their home. They were offered water, hot meals, and supplies in which they humbly said, “Our children can share one plate, and we only need one case of water, the rest can go to someone who needs it more.” Despite the family being humble, local Rotarians insisted that they were indeed the ones in need of help. Part of that group was Rotatarian District
6200 Governor-Elect Tim McNabb, member of The Rotary Club of Downtown Houma, who has first-hand experiences in the bayou regions in which he described it as similar to his experience in Kuwait as a Marine in Desert Storm. “It reminded me of when we entered Kuwait, just the buildings that I recognized were the weird thing. That used to be the bait shop we went to and that used to be where we launched our boat at. It was devastating.” He described mobile October 2021 28 povhouma.com
homes and houses that were laying on their sides, tossed upside down, or completely exposed with walls and roofs missing. He recalled families that lost homes and are now living on shrimp boats, tents, and makeshift homes that are trying to get their boats running so they can continue their livelihoods to start rebuilding their homes. These people needed help, and they still do. Tim says he got to know his neighbors
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differently through the aftermath of Ida. He says it was amazing to see the type of neighbors he has because they’re friendly waving when they see each other, but he says it was amazing to see them go out and help provide food.
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He says as the word got out about what Rotary was doing, more people would go to help. They even had people pick up lunch plates and would donate money because they wanted to help the initiative. October 2021 29 povhouma.com
It only took a few days for local Rotary Clubs to get started to get resources together to further their reach. Recovery initiatives have been led by The Rotary Club of Downtown Houma, The Rotary Club of Houma, The Rotary Club of Houma-Terrebonne, and the Rotary Club of Houma-Sunrise. “We all have different personalities in these clubs,” Tim says, “but when we all come together, we all work together.” The Downtown Houma Rotary Club started early with relief efforts when Tim contacted the Rotary’s District
6200 Secretary to see if the district had any plans with assisting those in need. The call led the club to be connected to Abbeville Rotary Club. Abbeville Rotary Club was able to lend a cooking trailer to provide 600 pastalaya meals. After that event, Abbeville Rotary left the trailer for use to continue feeding those in need and they rallied supplies together to help including 950 pounds of ice. Tim says they were able to get some Rotary members together to pick up the ice in ice chests to hand out to residents. Tim says the next day they were able to obtain some October 2021 30 povhouma.com
perishable items from the local food bank due to the generosity of Rotary member Lawrence DeHart who is the Executive Director of Terrebonne Churches United Food Bank. With the donations, they were able to cook about 300 pounds of chicken, white beans, and 70 pounds of rice that fed 600-700 people. They also teamed up with the Cajun Navy Ground Force who had a set up in the parking lot by Office Depot in Houma. The Ground Force was getting around 6,000 meals a day shipped from Operational BBQ Relief that consisted of pulled pork,
sliced pork loin, or pork roast for the protein and corn, green beans, mixed vegetables, or beans and rice for the side. Rotary was able to obtain some of the meals where they were able to partner with community centers alongside volunteers to get it into the hands of those in need. The Rotary Clubs were also given ground deer meat and deer meat sausage where they cooked 300 plates of deer meat spaghetti and 650 deer meat tacos. They’ve also cooked red beans and sausage with rice. At this point, Tim says they had other clubs starting to come to help out. The Zachary Rotary Club came to cook 500 plates of fried fish with french fries. When it came to the lower bayou areas that were hit the hardest, it was hard to get to and from those areas. Between no running water, no electricity, and travel taking up to three hours because of traffic, emergency vehicles, and linemen working, so the clubs decided it was best to prepare food then drive down the supplies south to hand out to areas such as Dularge and Dulac. The meal runs consisted of volunteers from the region such as Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which made it possible to hand out food and supplies to families that lived with no electricity and no running water. Out of all of the efforts that were put forth by Rotarians, it was a single flower that was handed from a child that drew tears. A florist donated four boxes of carnations to give out to bring beauty amid the chaos. They were able to get help from children to hand out the flowers along with written encouraging notes. Not only were they able to fill hungry bellies, but they were also able to fill the hearts of residents too. They were also able to bring a mobile shower facility to the Chauvin Community Center once the community got running water. The facility has a tankless water heater, two separate showers, and two separate changing rooms. The showers were first brought for use by the Houma Police Department
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“We have good people here and we’ll be back up and as strong as ever.” because the officers were on duty during and after Ida where they had no place to take showers. After the area had electricity and running water, they were able to find a new location at the Chauvin Community Center thanks to Councilman Dirk Guidry. They are actively moving the facility to the areas that need it most. The Rotary Club of Downtown Houma has also adopted Legion Park Elementary School which Tim says is one of the poorest schools in the district. The school has “The Early Act,” that Tim described as the Rotary of elementary schools. The teacher contacted the Rotary Club to share an idea where they wanted to check in on the students to see how they are doing and to make sure they have a hot meal. The Rotary Club cooked hamburgers and hot dogs, cleaning supplies available for distribution along with backpacks with school supplies, and Brookes Sno-World gave out free snowballs. The school did receive major damage, so this particular event was an oasis for the community.
Now that various companies, organizations, and volunteers are cooking and able to meet the community needs, the Rotary Clubs are finding that communities are needing cleaning supplies more than before which is a good sign of areas moving into a recovery process. They have already started to include buckets, mops, bleach, and brooms along with the food distributions, but they are also looking into utilizing Rotary’s Emergency Response trailers that have wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, chainsaws, weed eaters, so they can help residents with the cleanup process. They would like to start focusing on clean up in the public parks because of the importance of having a safe place to go and relax, “we’re just trying to come up with ways to help the community get back on its feet,” Tim says, “our philosophy is the faster they can get back home and to work and back to normalcy, the faster our economy comes back, and it’s better for everybody.” They also have been spreading the word of efforts on social media along with
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Venmo (and CashApp accounts which have raised close to $6,000 to help with overhead costs. Contact Tim McNabb at 985.856.4042 for donations. Tim made a valid point, with the amount of damage and debris, coastal Louisiana is in for a long rebuilding period. “It’s heartbreaking,” he says, “There are people out there who are still washing their kids on the porch in buckets.” People want to be out on their properties to start cleaning up, but there’s a process, and it will take a while. He says he wants people to know how great of a community we have when it comes down to taking care of each other. “It was friends, neighbors, strangers, anybody who saw what we were doing, jumped in, and helped out,” he says, “I’m not worried about if we can recover, I’m a little worried about how long it’s going to take, it’s a lot of damage, but I definitely have faith in this community. We have good people here and we’ll be back up and as strong as ever.” POV
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THE OBSERVER |
BY JAIME DISHMAN
BAYOU
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
STRONG In a month where so many have lost so much, what words are there to say? We (our people, our parishes) were hit by the storm we always knew could happen. The storm that would drive up our bayous and blast wind and rain in ways we could never imagine.
This October for breast cancer awareness month, let’s think about the many Bayou Region hurricane victims and breast cancer patients as they search for a sense of normalcy.
We are here to help.
Ida did just that. She stalled and hovered, leaving extended wind and water damage to thousands of homes that will never be the same. The phrase “it’s just a home” isn’t true. Yes, we are glad our people are safe. But our homes are just that. Our homes. Our bayous are just that. Our bayous. They’re all hit. Nothing feels the same. Disrepair is all around us and will take months and even years to truly return to “normal.” It’s a possibility that bayou water runs through my veins instead of blood. I love every bayou. I love every bit and part of lower Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. If you’re a faithful reader of my words, you’ll know we own a tiny piece of Cocodrie land that I refer to as “a little bit of heaven on earth.” We’ve crabbed in the waters of Pointe Aux Chenes more times than I can count. We love the beach at Grand Isle. We’ve launched our boat out of Montegut to go “crabbing by the dam” my whole life. We talk about parts of the bayou as “that’s where we caught a bunch of speckled trout” or “that’s when so-and-so (not naming names) fell out of the boat.” The bayous feel more like home than the building I live in. I didn’t love it all when I was growing up in it. Being “down the bayou” was a little backward. Or so I thought. It was when I had my first child fall asleep cradled in my arms during a Fourth of July boat ride on a bayou that I knew “down the bayou” is where I always wanted to be. We get to live in a place that’s surrounded by natural beauty and majesty and a true paradise. There’s mosquitos and gnats and hurricanes, too. But I’ll take it all to live where I love. I bleed bayou.
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“Take me to Cocodrie” is what I say when I’ve had a bad day. I’m not kidding. Bring me to the bayou, and my soul starts to sing.
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These bayous hum with the rhythm of generations who have weathered the storms, worked the land and lived in a “sportsman’s paradise.” I love our land. I love our people. My “Maw Maw” was the kind of Cajun who knew every “down the bayou” family and could somehow make everyone a relative. She spoke Cajun French and knew the bayous like the back of her hand. Ida won’t destroy us. It didn’t take anyone too long to figure that out. Our people work hard, pick themselves up and rebuild. And along the way, we help our neighbors, too. We help and care and love. That’s bayou. There’s always another storm that could come. But there’s also so much hope here. We will rebuild. We will preserve our coast. We will protect a way of life that’s precious. Is there anything better than a table covered with boiled shrimp or crabs or crawfish that came from the bayous surrounding our homes? The only thing better is the friends that sit around our table, who share our hearts and homes. Even when our homes are broken and our hearts feel shattered, we still know this is home.
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These bayous breathe their life into us and give us hope that we are another generation who will tell the story of the storm that came and went, but didn’t destroy us. We are bayou strong. POV
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WE SUPPORT A HEALTHIER FUTURE |
BY THIBODAUX REGIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM
FALL SCREENINGS CAN LEAD TO EARLY DETECTION AND SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES As summer turns into fall men and women are reminded to turn their attention to getting annual screenings for cancers that can be highly treatable when detected early. For men, September is recognized as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, while the pink ribbons of October symbolize Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Both observances call attention to ways to safeguard your health, starting with screenings.
• Continue annual mammograms from ages 45 to 54 • At age 55, women of average risk can continue annual or change to biennial mammograms
• Vitamin D. This vitamin, which tends to decrease as women and men age, is beneficial for cancer prevention and treatment. • Regular Exercise. At least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week, combined with a healthy diet, help women to maintain healthy weight. Being overweight or obese increases the risks.
According to the American Cancer Society, after skin cancer breast cancer is the most common form of cancer for women. About one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime.
Alcohol • Limit Alcohol. consumption can fuel risks; limit drinks to no more than one a day.
Basic Facts about Breast Cancer Oftentimes, a woman doesn’t realize that cancer is lurking in her body. For that reason, screening mammograms are crucial to prevention and early detection. Guidelines for screenings are: • Begin screening mammograms between ages 40 and 44
• Healthy Diet. Diet may contribute to about 30 to 40 percent of all cancers. Research indicates that a low-fat diet and one high in vegetables and fiber can help reduce risk or recurrence.
• Screenings should continue as long as a woman is in good health and expects to live another 10 years or more Risks increase with age, and postmenopausal women are at higher risk as are those with a family history of breast cancer. While those two factors can’t be controlled, certain lifestyle choices can be altered:
Know your risks and family history and discuss those with your provider to safeguard against or detect breast cancer early. If you have not done so already, now is the time to schedule your mammogram. For more information about screenings contact Thibodaux Regional Cancer Center, 985-493-4008.
One of only two hospitals in Louisiana to earn this recognition for high performance in delivering the best quality and most cost-effective heart and vascular care. Why is this so important? Because high quality heart care close to home is not only convenient, it’s life-saving.
For more information call 985.493.4703. 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals® is a registered trademark of Watson Health™
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We’ve all heard the adage that if you spend too much time on details you’ll lose sight of the big picture. A less polite way to convey that idea, perhaps, is to be told to get your head out of the weeds and up into the trees. Well, for us in PoV Country, we just experienced a really big picture by the name of Ida, and it’s a challenge to get our heads up into the trees with all those that have been uprooted and toppled down. Early last month, after daily, sun-burning routines of clearing the yard of a multitude of storm-blown tree branches and roofing shingles, I would spend sunsets cooling down on the front porch just like my grandparents did at their bayou-front house before AC window units became the next big thing in bayou homes. With my head clear during those moments, I would voluntarily enter the weeds and concentrate on small things—things that would normally be swallowed up and made unnoticeable by the big picture—like the uneasy toccata and fugue of two chainsaws in the distance, as their rough tones rose and fell into alternating harmony and dissonance. It’s instrumentation and form that Bach might have explored had he experienced hurricane recoveries in the German forests of the 18th century. He didn’t, of course. But, all of a sudden, here on the bayou of the 21st, all my neighbors became baroque composers sawing broke trees. In the once-shaded yard now baking in that September oven, it must have been weaning season for baby lizards—some not even two inches long, clinging to the tender, wind-damaged stems and fronds of what used to be decorative plants bedded around the porch. Even tiny males at a young age were raising their heads high and extending their extra jawbone to show-off their throaty masculinity. Maybe all their predators had been frightened away by the storm, and now their reptilian bravery is being expressed. Or maybe in this sun-beaten heat they’ve dried and are no longer youthfully “wet behind the ears.” But that’s really just a human saying because lizards don’t have external ears like us. This is good, because that makes it easier for the thin, sleek animal to invisibly stalk mates and prey and hide in thin spaces. It would be kinda difficult to hide behind a thin plant stem with two perpendicular ears poking out of your head. I know. I’ve tried. In addition to the emergence of baby lizards, lovebugs hatched last month in what is their regular late summer swarm. The right combination of wet and steamy heat awoke these flies from their under-the-grass larval slumber, and, like clockwork, they arose and began pursuit of their life-long activity. Life is only 4-5 days for them, and so they get right to work fertilizing eggs for next year’s late spring swarms. Storms are an exciting time for lovebugs, as they are attracted to many timely things in the aftermaths: light-colored surfaces like undergarments drying on a clothes line outside an unelectrified house, the beating blades of box fans, and new building materials, especially when the sun beats down on them. But their absolute favorite attraction is motor exhaust, including fumes
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from outdoor generators, which were plentiful. One day resting on the porch and trying to catch a breeze to at least half way dry my wet tee-shirt, lovebugs flew about me, buzzed by, and sometimes landed on my clammy skin. One lone female, clearly searching for a bit of nutrition before becoming burdened by dragging an exhausted and dying male behind her, landed on my hand and made her way up my arm. I could see her tiny snout sponging for something tasty as she navigated my wet forearms made slick with sunscreen and dimpled with heat rash. Clearly not nutritive enough, she made her way up the way to the lower seam of my sweaty sleeve, inserted her snout between the tiny twines of cotton there, and rested for a good five minutes absorbing the salty liquid trapped in the fabric. I was happy to share the fruits of my labor in her time of need. What are neighbors for, after all? With my head out of the trees, I was thinking about an even smaller picture. I was thinking about elections and wishing I had some free-flowing ones coming into my AC unit, washer and dryer, and laptop charger. But in the midst of this strange and untenable unelectrified world, with its vista of downed trees and their chainsawed renderings, mangled strips of aluminum and vinyl siding, fragments of former fences and lumber, mud, garbage, heat, generator fumes, and no promise of electrons for at least the remainder of the month or until the October PoV issue, I was surrounded by tiny, helicoptering lovebugs— colored deep black and contrasted against the bright, steamy, sunlit background. I found it comforting how the smallest things like bugs can remind us in aftermaths of storms and in our other times of need what life is really all about. POV
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• Ida was the 11th named storm, the fourth hurricane and the second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. • Ida formed as a tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea on August 26, 2021, and increased to a hurricane the next day before making landfall over Cuba. The storm then strengthened to a Category 4 as it moved toward the Louisiana coast. • Ida made landfall in Port Fourchon, La., just before noon on Sunday, August 29, 2021. Coincidentally, that day was also the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
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• Rapid Intensification (RI) is defined as when a tropical system strengthens 24 millibars within 24 hours or when a storm increases maximum sustained winds by 35 mph in a 24-hour period. Ida strengthened 56 millibars in a 24-hour period, smashing the first part of the definition. Ida’s winds increased 65 mph in that same 24-hour period, crushing the second part too.
• Ida came onshore with a central pressure of 930 mb. For Louisiana, Ida had the second-lowest pressure for a landfalling hurricane in that state. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the only storm to have lower central pressure of 920 mb. • Ida tied the Last Island Hurricane in 1856 and Hurricane Laura in 2020 as the strongest to strike Louisiana, based on wind speed. The sequence of Laura and Ida marked the first time any state has seen two 150 mph hurricane landfalls in consecutive years. • Ida remained a major hurricane for nine hours. Ida made first landfall around 12:55 p.m. Five hours later, it was still a Category 4 with 130 mph winds. It didn’t drop below major hurricane status until 9 p.m., not dropping to a tropical storm until sometime before 4 a.m. on Monday
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Find the six differences in this photo from our feature on page page 34. Email your answers to us at looktwice@povhouma.com or drop it in the mail: Rushing Media, P.O. Box 5013, Houma, LA, 70361. A winner will be picked by random drawing October 20. The winner will receive a $50 Visa® gift card courtesy of Synergy Bank. Participants must be 18 years or older.
Congratulations to Jennifer Henry for winning last month’s contest.
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ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH’S CONTEST 1. Removed turkey 2. Removed logo from hat 3. Removed logo from shirt 4. Changed hat color 5. Removed buttons from shirt 6. Changed color of bracelets
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