La Belle Maison

hopeTHAT BUILT THE HOUSE BY LIESEL SCHMIDT hey say that home is where the heart is; and for Tracy and

TTroy Duhon, that statement is just the tip of the iceberg. For the couple, home is not only where they live and raise their family—it’s the hub of their charitable organizations and the place where so many people have come to minister to one another and share their testimonies.

Built in 2005, the Duhon’s home was ready for them to move in when Katrina hit, displacing them until 2006. “Like many people, we had to rebuild many areas of our home,” says Tracy. “Once it was done, I wanted to make our beautiful home a place of love for our family as well as others. What better way to get to know your neighbors than to open your home and serve them? I began with a Christmas luncheon in December of 2006; and I realized that, when women are brought together, they can do great things.”

That luncheon was the first of many, and the women who gathered started combining forces to reach out and help the Slidell Crisis Pregnancy Center and battered women’s shelter. Since then, the three-story Mediterranean style home has been filled with love, hope, and faith—though it has come with both challenges and heartaches. The proud mother of four children—Joshua, 24; Abigail, 21; Avah Hope, 10; and Annahstasia Grace, 9—Tracy has also lost three babies, two of which were born without kidneys. It was when the couple adopted Annahstasia Grace from an orphanage in China that Tracy saw the conditions and was given the inspiration for a new project. “Seeing all of these children in the orphanage who needed a family, I began Hope for a Home through our home luncheons, which then became one of the eight pillars of our non-profit, Giving Hope Nola,” says Tracy. “Going forward, each year we have helped as many as four families bring home their children.”

Created in 2013, Giving Hope feeds several thousand people daily through food pantries in New Orleans; Kansas City; and Monterey, California. Giving Hope also builds orphanages around the world, with six built so far in India, Honduras, Russia, Gambia, Brazil, and Dominican Republic. Giving Hope operates a Community Center in the 9th Ward and partners with the New Orleans Mission, which operates the Giving Hope Retreat Center, where individuals facing addiction, sex trafficking, and abuse come for refuge and help. Through Hope for a Home, Giving Hope helps families financially with their adoption process, many of which are international special need adoptions. “To date, we have helped over 25 families with their adoption process,” says Tracy.

2020 did, of course, prove a challenging year, though Tracy and her team of faith warrior women felt a burden laid on their hearts to help 20 children in 2020, with a goal to raise over $20,000 to help children in foster care and with critical illnesses as well as the local Giving Hope Community Center children and GH Hope Home children. Despite the odds, they exceeded their mission. For 2021, the plan is to help 21 children before the end of the year. To date, the organization has helped more than 50 children.

And those women Tracy works with? They became part of Women of Hope Unite, a faith-based woman’s organization associated with the Giving Hope Foundation that invests time, talent, and treasure to impact women and children of all ages, creating a legacy for both present and future generations. “It is about finding the passion that inspires you and the injustice that angers you—that is what you are called to, what creates your legacy,” says Tracy.

All of this has happened in the Duhons’ home—a house that they have named the “Duhon Retreat” because it has been host to so many, including visiting pastors as well as future youth ministers and, of course, the young women who help Tracy with homeschooling her kids. “They’re my right hand, and they become like daughters,” says Tracy of her assistants.

With such a busy home, it’s little wonder that the study and family room are some of the favorite rooms in the house—though the massive kitchen is really where so much of the fellowship happens. “We built the island with a cooktop and placed it in the middle of the kitchen, so that your back is never turned on anyone,” Tracy says. “It’s at the center of everything.”

Where Your Home Tells Your Story

3441 E Causeway Approach | Suite C Mandeville, LA 70448 | Phone: 985-951-2142   nestcuratedhome.com

Boasting custom cabinetry from John Lagarde with custom paint finishes by Keith Guy, Inc., the kitchen also features Jerusalem Gold marble, giving the space a natural warmth.

In the common areas of the home, grand vaulted ceilings supported by exposed cedar beams give the house old world charm and distinction that one would expect from the look of the outside, which was styled after the great villas of Italy, with a barrel tile roof and tailored boxwood gardens. The interior also has a French modern feel created by Trudy Hurley of New Orleans.

As beautiful as the Duhon home is, however, it isn’t the outer trappings that make it such a special place. It’s the love inside—as well as the abiding faith and unshakeable hope.

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