INDfamily

Well Fed

by Amanda Bedgood

This month begins the biggest drives of the year to stock food pantries and bring hunger to the forefront.

"There are no poor people in Lafayette."

Valla Culpepper's heard that one before. But her eyes have seen too much. She knows the statistics don't lie - one in six households in Louisiana at risk for hunger - and after 36 years serving at Lafayette food pantries, she knows there are empty pantries and empty bellies in Acadiana.

This month begins the biggest drives of the year to stock food pantries and bring hunger to the forefront. Organizations like FoodNet gather between 175,000 and 210,000 pounds of food a year and work through area agencies and pantries like Faith House, The Children's Shelters of Acadiana Youth, St. Joseph Diner and the Red Cross to name a few. U.S. attorney's offices in Shreveport and Lafayette alone collected more than 1,600 pounds of food and non-perishables for FoodNet in Lafayette and Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana in Shreveport recently. And FoodNet's largest drives are in the coming months - the Rotary's election day drive Nov. 4 and the KLFY/FoodNet Food for Families drive Dec. 2 at the Cajundome. It is the time of year to give.

"Some of the smaller pantries, the December food drive can make up from 40 to 45 percent of the food they receive all year," says Julie LaFleur, FoodNet's new executive director.

LaFleur may be new to the position (she started in July), but she is no stranger to feeding the hungry.

"I grow vegetables in our church garden and donated to FoodNet so clients could have fresh vegetables," she says. "Feeding people is a basic need, and whenever this position came up everyone was like it's a perfect fit for you. Food is what you do."

Volunteers of all ages can join in on the effort, and people like Culpepper, those with a heart to feed others in need, are hoping future generations pick up the torch she's carried for more than three decades.

"We have children and schools and 4-H and Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts, and I believe when you show a young person at a young age the difference they can make it doesn't take much to have a food drive at school or in your neighborhood or volunteer at our food drive in December," LaFleur says. "When you're showing them at a young age it opens their eyes - this can of corn or beans will go to someone that needs food and that's an eye opener for the young ones."

Volunteers like Culpepper, who serves at United Christian, have long known about hunger, says the woman who grew up to the backdrop of the Great Depression. But she knows that's not the case for many children today.

"I cannot stand the thought of anybody going hungry," she says.

In a world of excess, Culpepper hopes future generations will continue to invest in food pantries and teach their children the importance of giving back.

"Most people just don't realize. They've never had to do without. They've never had to eat biscuits and gravy for a week at a time. Things are not always as they seem, and we need food year round," she says.

U.S. attorney's office Legal Technical Writer Henri LeJeune, right, helps deliver food to the FoodNet drop off station in Lafayette. The annual Feds Feed Families Drive collected more than 1,600 pounds of food in Louisiana for local pantries.

Lafayette Food Pantries

Call for details on qualifying for food and hours or call 232-HELP for more information on local pantries.

Acadiana C.A.R.E.S.

809 MLK Drive

337-233-2437

First Assembly of God

3555 Verot School Road

337-857-0018

Food Net

217 Surrey St.

337-232-3663

Gethsemane COGIC

317 12th St.

337-233-2478

Our Savior's Church

801 South Main St.

337-839-8889

Progressive Community Outreach

125 Gallian St.

337-234-0123

Second Harvest Food Bank

215 E. Pinhook Road

(337) 237-7711

Salvation Army Lafayette

212 Sixth St.

337-235-2407

Tabernacle of Hope

925 West Broussard Road

337-278-9527

United Christian Outreach

422 Carmel Drive

337-234-0162