Girl Scouts accepting used flags for retirement ceremony ä Page 7G
THE ST.TAMMANY
ADVOCATE
COVINGTON • FOLSOM • LACOMBE • MADISONVILLE • MANDEVILLE • SLIDELL
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THURSDAY APRIL 2, 2015 H
THENEWORLEANSADVOCATE.COM
Sharon Edwards TAMMANY TIMES SEDWARDS@THEADVOCATE.COM
Nurturing physically, spiritually Everyone knows there are people and families out there in need of some extra help. A new ministry called Feed Dat has begun to provide just that. Maritza Perez works at First United Methodist Church in Slidell, where she has helped start the Feed Dat Ministry. They are excited because the ministry connects food and other items that would normally go to waste with people in the community who are in need. The ministry has no stipulations or qualifications for those who wish to receive from it. There is a need, and they want to share what has been made available through the ministry — no questions asked, she said. People need only to provide an ID and they will receive two to three bags of items each week. Food and nonperishable items are distributed from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. each Thursday at 433 Erlanger Ave. More than 1,000 families have been helped since they began in October, she said. As word has spread, from 130 to 190 people have begun to line up early each week. “It’s going well and has been well-received,” she said.
Items donated each week
“It’s the many volunteers that make this ministry the success that it is.” Each week, volunteers rent a truck to pick up slightly damaged items from Associated Wholesale Grocers. “They have been our main source of commodities,” she said. They come back to the church and unload the items, then inspect them to discard what is too damaged and clean all the packaging so it is ready to bag up. Sometimes they get bottled water, charcoal, canned goods, dried beans, pasta and other boxed nonperishables to give out. If they get a busted case of toilet paper, they divide the rolls equally among the bags. Perez calls the items “supplemental.” They are not intended to provide the basic foods a family or individual would need. “It’s not meant to feed them on a weekly basis,” she said. “It extra things they are able to get.” In addition to providing food, Perez has shared a weekly devotional with those who come early and stand in line. For the past 40 days, she has shared a favorite Lenten reflection that she reads aloud. She said Lent is a time “to give up something, or give away something.” The ministry has helped more than 40 volunteers a week do both. The ministry team prays together before they open the doors for the distribution, then prays with those waiting. “Anyone who has volunteered comes back touched. It reaches you.” She said the ministry has äSee TIMES, page 3G
Keepers
of the Light
Sponsors sought for April 26 banquet Northlake-Mandeville Rotary Club awards two scholarships Advocate staff report
Photo provided by LPBM
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage is shown in this photograph, dated 1918. The cottage has since been relocated from its place on the Tchefuncte River to the grounds of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum.
Tea fundraiser gives Madisonville a taste of history BY ABBY DONALDSON Special to The Advocate
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ne of the most historic houses in Madisonville is a little white cottage that sits along the banks of the Tchefuncte River in the shadows of the contemporary mansions that have sprouted up Advocate staff photo by SCOTT THRELKELD around it. The small, one-story A wrap-around porch opens to a foggy home, known as the Lighthouse morning Wednesday at the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, has come a long way since it was built alongside Keeper’s Cottage at the Lake Ponthe Tchefuncte River Lighthouse tchartrain Basin Maritime Museum in in 1868. Madisonville. Workers have been at “It has a historical significance work restoring the keeper’s cottage. that is unique to this town,” said The first Susan Thurston’s Tea on the Don Lynch, describing the lightbanks of the Tchefuncte River will be house and cottage. Lynch is the held on April 9 at the cottage. director at the Lake Pontchartrain
Basin Maritime Museum in Madisonville. He added, “It needs to be preserved. It’s history.” The cottage was recently donated to the Maritime Museum in an effort to restore and preserve the historic home. Over the past 130 years, the cottage braced through hurricanes, floods and two relocations. All of which have paid a toll on the structure. “It needs everything from roof to foundation, inside and out, but all of that costs money,” said Sandra Scalise Juneau, chairperson of the Friends of the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage. The group is a committee within the Maritime Museum that was recently formed to raise äSee LIGHT, page 3G
Advocate staff photo by SCOTT THRELKELD
A ‘Save Our Lighthouse,’ quilt hangs in a bedroom at the keeper’s cottage.
Two $12,000 Scholarships will be awarded at an upcoming Rotary Club banquet. The Northlake-Mandeville Rotary Club is seeking sponsors for its Sunday with Scholars fundraising dinner, which will take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 26, at Beau Chene Country Club, 602 N. Beau Chene Drive, Mandeville. The annual fundraising banquet will include live entertainment by pianist Richard Moore, a full-course gourmet buffet, an open bar, and a silent auction. Attendees will enjoy prime rib, Fettuccini Alfredo with shrimp, side dishes, and dessert choices. The club will award the $12,000 college scholarships to two local high school seniors based on their academic ability, community service and need for financial assistance. Candidates are drawn from the following high schools: Mandeville, Fountainebleau, Lakeshore, St. Paul’s, Saint Scholastica, Archbishop Hanna and Northlake Christian. Sponsorship levels begin at $250, which includes two tickets to the fundraising dinner, recognition in the event program and a photo with students. The scholarship program began in 1998 and is considered by club members to be an investment in the community. Two students are currently in medical school, and two have äSee BANQUET, page 4G
‘Monk Race’ offers scenic course South Louisiana offers some of the most interesting outings one can imagine. Top-shelf restaurants? Check. Swamp excursions? Check. Voodoo tours? Check. Even when it comes to our road races, we pick some unique locales in which to hold them. The aforementioned swamps are in there, as are Garden District streets, highrise bridges, REC & LEISURE centuries-old cemeteries, ANDREW CANULETTE and Mississippi River levees. It’s just how we do things. Which leads us to the St. Joseph Abbey Monk Run — an annual event staged north of Covington where runners get a chance to race on the beautiful grounds of the abbey and seminary college on site. And without question, this is a “one of a kind event” as the abbey grounds are not often open for public recreational use. This year’s “Monk Run,” as it is called, will be April 25 in the tiny enclave of St. Benedict, the name of the site near Covington where the abbey is located. There will be both a 5-kiloäSee COURSE, page 4G