Team Leader: Justin Robinson Funded Date: November 8, 2025 Amount: $3,500 Location: Lafayette, LA
Progress
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Project Description
Downtown Lafayette’s parks are lively gathering places, but many lack permanent, interactive features that invite people to slow down, connect, and engage thoughtfully with one another. Without accessible activities, these public spaces often go underused outside of significant events, missing opportunities to spark community connection and lifelong learning.
The Downtown Lafayette Chess Tables Project proposes installing one to two durable outdoor chess tables in key park locations. These tables will serve as free, year-round gathering points for players of all ages and skill levels—encouraging mentorship, strategic thinking, and friendly competition. Partnering with local schools, libraries, and chess clubs, the project will host casual “chess meetups” to help residents learn and play together.
This initiative transforms a small park corner into a hub for creativity, logic, and social interaction—adding a little lagniappe to the downtown experience. The estimated budget is $1,500–$3,500 for 2 tables, covering weatherproof chess tables, installation, seating, signage, and community launch events. With community support and local partnerships, the project aims to make Lafayette’s public spaces more engaging, inclusive, and reflective of our vibrant culture.
The Birds and the Bees program is a way to provide veterans with the space and materials to learn basic carpentry skills, while also providing vital habitat to the local animal and insect populations of the Acadiana area. This program engages veterans in their community, as well as helping the local wildlife in building habitat. This not only helps the various flora and fauna, it encourages bigger yields in the gardens we encourage and aide people in building. It also helps develop strong bonds in the participants, and breeds the camaraderie veterans have grown accustomed to during their time in service. Not just with each other, but with the environment around them as well.
By building various housing for bats, birds, and insects we encourage the natural ecosystem to regenerate and thrive. In doing so in a group setting we provide a non judgmental space, and a task that is very manageable and rewarding. The fruits of their labor are immediate and purposeful.
Each box will include a bat box, birdhouse, vermicomposter (worm composter), native plants and seeds, and a guide to each item and how they interact.
Goals
Teach the importance of a regenerative Eco system.
Teach basic carpentry skills and shop safety.
Provide a large selection of Native plants to encourage even more diversity.
Provide a space for veterans to feel safe and understood.
Provide space at the veterans home to help find peace.
Create strong bonds through mutual support and a love for the community around them.
Provide the farm and the community with abundant wildlife, and natural beauty.
Specifications
Lumber will be provided by Live Edge lumber company (veteran owned) and milled and organized in “kits” by Abby’s Acre personnel. These will be organized by set designs and blueprints and can be scaled up or down depending on the skill of the participant. There will be emphasis on safety, and for the time being, no power tools will be utilized.
Native seeds and starts will be provided by The Urban Naturalist in Fightinville. A guide to each item in the box will be included to aid the recipient in further educating themselves on each component provided.
For those not able to build their own, Abby’s Acre personnel will be building, distributing, and installing these boxes for those most in need of them.
Project Details
Team Leader: Colton Campitelli Funded Date: November 11, 2023 Amount: $3,200 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community, We’ve just started work again after our summer heat break! I hope everyone was able to stay somewhat cool over the summer. We’re excited to start planning our fall gardens and the changes we’ll be implementing for next spring season. Unfortunately we...
Dear Community, Hello again everyone! We have exciting news from the Abby's Acre team. We have completed all the kits and have started distributing them! We have given our first one to a gulf war era veteran here in Freetown! We have 4 more scheduled this week to 2...
Dear Community, What a busy quarter it's been! We have been busy re-designing our boxes. After 2 test kits went out, we had several big design flaws surface, and we had to change the materials with which we were building. Because the boxes were made from rough cut...
Team”M.I.Brary” was funded $5,000 during the 24 Hour Citizen Project in 2017 to build a musical instrument library. According to project creator, Ryan Cazares, a”M.I.Brary” is a place where musicians or prospective musicians can check out various musical instruments, much like they can a book at a traditional library. This project speaks to the heart of musicians, and prospective musicians who want to try an instrument without the up front cost burden of purchasing it.
The MIBrary will help address a few problems with connecting musicians with instruments:
1.) Musicians will not be faced with the financial burden of renting or purchasing an instrument.
2.) Musicians who want to try an instrument will not have to commit to it should they end up not enjoying the chosen instrument.
3.) Recording artists who may want to sample a particular instrument will have easy access to several instruments while in the recording process.
It is our hope that providing musicians and prospective musicians with the ability to check out instruments will help sustain Lafayette’s musical culture and create musicians who may have never had access to musical instruments.
Project Details
Team Leader Ryan Cazares Funded Date July 29, 2017 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community, We did it! Lafayette Community M.I.Brary launched on Monday, July 2, 2018. 19 musical instruments are housed at the Clifton Chenier Center branch of the Lafayette Public Library. Within days of the launch, nearly all instruments were...
Dear Community, The Lafayette Community M.I.Brary is set to launch on June 27, 2018 with a preview day at Clifton Chenier Center in Lafayette from 5-7PM. Check out the Facebook event here. Lafayette will soon thereafter be able to check instruments out...
Dear Community, Since our last update, Team MIBrary has made tremendous progress. We have an official location: the Downtown Lafayette Public Library! Our launch date is forthcoming, but we anticipate late spring or early summer 2018. To date, Team MIBrary...
Team”Krewe des Canailles ” was funded $5,000 during the 24 Hour Citizen Project in 2017 to create a yearly Mardi Gras walking parade that is open to the public. The parade is completely man-powered, focusing on the creativity of each of the krewe’s members. Project creator, Rodney Hess, says “We want to Make Mardi Gras Great Again.”
We want to Make Mardi Gras Great Again. We’re a group of Carnival Crusaders leading the revolution against the out-of-touch ruling class. It’s time to overthrow the kings and queens of old and put Mardi Gras back into the hands of the people. Krewe des Canailles is a walking parade composed of individual krewes. Any group of people can pull together to create a krewe. The only rules are your floats have to be man-powered and your throws handmade and eco-friendly. No plastic beads at this parade.
We want to move away from the tired, poorly-constructed Spiderman floats and create a real community of creative Carnival-lovers.
Project Details
Team Leader Rodney Hess Funded Date July 29, 2017 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community, Well, we did it. Mission accomplished. The first Krewe de Canailles parade went off (mostly) without a hitch! It was a great time for both the krewes and the crowds. We received a ton of positive feedback including from downtown businesses, one of...
Dear Community, Mardi Gras is almost upon us, which means Krewe de Canailles is about to pop off. We've made a ton of new headway since the last update. We still haven't received our 501(c)7 status approval so we've reach out to TRAIL to act as our fiscal agents....
Dear Community, We’re completely on track to occupy the space left from the cancellation of kickoff parade this past year. Krewe de Canailles will now serve as THE Mardi Gras kickoff parade in Lafayette – and we’re bringing it back to downtown! The very talented Burt...
Team “Pop Up Theatre”was funded $2,000 during the 24 Hour Citizen Project in 2017 to create a pop-up children’s theatre for ages 6-12. The concept is modeled after the ole “Spanky and Our Gang” plays. Each performance will be completed within a 3-hour timeframe including set and costume design, rehearsal and performance. Most of the plays will include stories and nursery rhymes that the children are familiar with to encourage participation.
A group of volunteers from Disney first started this concept in Orlando, Florida. It was called The Black Swan Theatre. We created a script, made the costumes, set design, practiced and performed all in 3 hours. We had at least 6-9 adult volunteers along with 8-10 kids that regularly participated. I am looking to bring this theatre concept to Lafayette, Louisiana. I will need a group of volunteers that will work closely with the children to bring this to life. We will perform each play at several parks around the area to reach children in their neighborhoods and make it easily accessible to the parents or guardians that provide transportation. It is mandatory that the guardian will stay for the whole 3 hours to encourage participation and create an audience for the play. This is a summer program and will run for 6 weeks starting in the month of June. A new show will be performed every Saturday starting at 9am and ending at 12pm with refreshments for the actors and viewers. It will be a free, fun and engaging summer program.
Involving children in theatre and drama at an early age builds confidence and self-esteem. I want to concentrate on 6-12 year old at-risk children but also make it open to anyone that is interested in the Lafayette and surrounding areas. This project involves the whole family from performing to being part of the audience. Not everyone has a chance to participate in the arts at this level and I want to give them this opportunity to explore and learn about the world of theatre. This program encourages fun, learning and play-acting in one free event. The time constraints of doing a play from start to finish in 3 hours increases participation every week. I understand that it is hard for some families to commit to a theatre program that lasts over several weeks or months like most of them, but this concept makes it easy and accessible all in one Saturday morning.
Project Details
Team Leader Danielle Moroux Funded Date July 29, 2017 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community, Here is the update for our Pop Up Kids Theatre for June 2018. Since partnering with the New Hope Development Center, I have been able to reach the target audience and bring this new type of theater as part of their summer program. They have...
Dear Community, I am pleased to present this update for Pop-Up Kids Theater, a theatrical program for at-risk children ages 6-12 in the Lafayette area. The Facebook page is created, published and now active under the name PopUp Kids Theater. After some consideration,...
Dear Community, As you may recall, I am the team leader for the Pop-Up Kids Theater, a theatrical program for at-risk children ages 6-12 in the Lafayette area. Things for this project are moving along despite my teammate, Shannon Miller, who has moved out of the area....
