Team Leader: Cherie Kelly Funded Date: November 9, 2024 Amount: $4,000 Location: Lafayette, LA
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Project Description
This program focuses on establishing pantries in low-income areas to provide essential household goods and hygiene products to the community. Each month, residents receive a voucher that allows them to shop at the pantry, ensuring they have access to necessary items like cleaning supplies, toiletries, and other basic household essentials. The goal is to reduce financial strain, promote hygiene, and support the overall well-being of families in these communities while fostering a sense of dignity and empowerment through a structured, voucher-based system.
We run this program because we understand that many families struggle to obtain even the most basic necessities, which can lead to challenges both at home and in their daily lives. These small but vital items—like household goods and hygiene products—can make a big difference in maintaining stability and dignity. I started this program because I’ve been in this position myself, and I know how hard it can be when help isn’t available. My goal is to meet the needs of others in the way I once needed support, ensuring families have access to the essentials they deserve.
Team Leader: Ashley Hutchins / Grace Gallaspy Funded Date: November 9, 2024 Amount: $2,500 Location: Lafayette, LA
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Project Description
The National Alliance on Mental Illness recently reported that 1 in 6 children between the ages of 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year in the United States. The American Psychological Association reports that in the 10 years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a 40% increase in depressive symptoms, feelings of hopelessness, and suicidal behaviors among American youth.
The first step in ensuring children have the tools they need to seek assistance for their mental health is setting a standard of open and transparent communication about mental health.
Team Reel Connections is pitching an innovative approach to modeling and facilitating mental health conversations and improving community access to resources with our (e)motion picture family movie event. With this project, we will use a popular family film to engage participants in a dialogue about emotions and provide them the tools needed to replicate these conversations at home. We will treat all our attendees to the red carpet experience to create an atmosphere of fun and excitement.
We will follow the movie screening with brief, facilitated discussion groups led by mental health professionals to model discussion techniques for families to continue sharing and communicating about mental health topics at home. At the conclusion of the event all attendees will get their “VIP swag bag” of local mental health resources and materials designed to help foster healthy communication patterns for families. We believe engaging experiences like (e)motion picture events can serve Acadiana as a vital resource in battling the mental health crisis currently impacting all communities in the US and can improve social determinants of health in our region.
We look forward to collaborating with community partners, qualified mental health professionals and the families in Acadiana to shine a spotlight on mental health.
Team Leader: Jenny Thompson Funded Date: November 9, 2024 Amount: $3,000 Location: Lafayette, LA
Progress
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Project Description
Project “Doula Right Thing” focuses on addressing the rising maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in the Lafayette region. As a professional doula with over 15 years of experience, Jenny and her team recognize the essential role that doulas play in providing physical, informational, and emotional support to birthing families. Doulas have been proven to improve birth outcomes for mothers and babies, especially for vulnerable populations, such as Black women, who are at a higher risk for adverse outcomes during childbirth.
One of the primary challenges facing families is the cost of accessing doula services, which often makes this support inaccessible to many in need. The project seeks to address this barrier by training 24 doulas within the region. By offering free training to doulas, the initiative aims to create teams of certified doulas who will provide birth services at no cost to mothers in need. This not only improves birth outcomes for these mothers but also empowers doulas to start their own businesses, creating a self-sustaining solution to the maternal health crisis.
The project’s goal is to train 24 doulas, which, when organized into teams of three and supporting minimum two births each year, could provide services to ~50 mothers annually, potentially serving up to ~150 mothers or more over time. Achieving this scale of support would significantly impact maternal health outcomes in the community, ensuring that more women have access to the care they need during childbirth.
In terms of impact, doulas help decrease maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rates, particularly for Black women, by reducing the occurrence of low birth weight and complications. Additionally, doulas reduce the rate of c-sections from 25% to 13%, and when mothers are induced, they help lower the chance of a c-section from 59% to 13%. They also play a crucial role in increasing breastfeeding initiation, which improves bonding and helps regulate the baby’s heart rate, breathing rate, and blood sugar. Overall, the project aims to create a healthier, more supportive birth environment for mothers and their babies, while empowering doulas to make a lasting difference in their communities.
A Silent Disco Prom will be a night for our autism and special education needs population to feel accepted, understood, and celebrated. Sensory Grooves will be an evening devoted entirely to helping individuals 14-18 years of age enjoy a traditional prom experience in an inclusive environment that feels safe and friendly.
Sensory Grooves participants will feel like prom royalty as they will control their experience, making it as unique as each of them. Participants will receive wireless headphones customized at a constant volume level featuring three different audio channels. These three channels allow participants to volley back and forth between three song choices from three DJs, all by clicking a button on their headphones. This control factor helps each participant feel more included and immerses them in a socially positive group experience.
Suppose participants sense they need a break from all the fun of dancing. In that case, they can still listen and observe or remove the headphones and have a conversation, never missing a moment of the grand experience of their evening. Having choices extends a safety factor, minimizing sensory overload and providing a successful and memorable evening.
Sensory Grooves participants will experience the feeling of being included and allowing each to celebrate and have fun together to the beat of their own headphones!
Project Details
Team Leader: Kelly Landry Funded Date: November 11, 2023 Amount: $3,500 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Groovy Community, On the magical evening of April 27, 2024, 24 HCP and Sensory Grooves opened the doors of Wonderland Performing Arts in true red-carpet fashion celebrating our sensory and neurodivergent 8th-12th graders in and around the Acadiana area. The night...
Dear Groovy Community, Since you last heard from us in December, Team Sensory Grooves has been “strutting our stuff” in preparation for the grooviest night coming in Acadiana - Sensory Grooves: Silent Disco Prom! We look forward to celebrating our sensory and...
Dear Groovy Community, Thank you are two of the most simplistic words that are written in this moment filled with such sincere gratitude. Team Sensory Grooves is beyond grateful to you for opening doors and entrusting us to showcase the need for acceptance and...
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...
