News Releases

31 - 40

108

July 2, 2018
Rupa Jolly DDS and Christy Ross Join Board of Directors

Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana welcomes new board members Christy Ross and Dr. Rupa Jolly, DDS. The 2018-2109 Board of Directors is comprised of M. Isabel Barrios; Nathan J. Junius; David Konur; Fred H. Myers; Leonard D. Simmons, Jr.; Lynn Swanson; Chuck Viator; and James M. LeBlanc, president and CEO. Board officers for the 2018-2019 term include Geoffrey C. Artigues, chair; Christy M. Howley Connois, chair-elect; Chanel Lagarde, secretary; Tod Smith, treasurer; and Wayne Baquet Jr., immediate past chair.
June 25, 2018
Volunteers of America Awarded Grant to Create 122 New Apartment Homes in Baton Rouge

Volunteers of America has been awarded $5.7 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to develop 122 new apartment homes for families and veterans in Baton Rouge’s historically and culturally significant Spanish Town neighborhood. The funding was received from the Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) as part of its 2016 flood disaster recovery efforts.
June 6, 2018
Volunteers of America Presents Highest Honor to Mark Ingram

Volunteers of America concluded its National Conference on June 5, 2018, with an award dinner at the National World War II Museum that honored several local community leaders and philanthropic organizations. Honorees included New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram II, The Advocate owner and publisher John Georges, New Orleans business leader David Fennelly, and the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust.
April 9, 2018
Appreciation Luncheon Recognizes Senior Volunteers for Community Service

Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana’s RSVP Volunteers gathered for an annual recognition luncheon celebrating more than 38,000 hours of community service in 2017. The RSVP luncheon was held at the Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville on April 7, 2018.
March 15, 2018
26th Annual GolfStar Classic Held to Benefit Adoption and Maternity Program

On March 13, 2018, Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana hosted its 26th Annual GolfStar Classic, presented by Jay Trusheim, Prudential Financial Professional, offering P&C through Liberty Mutual Insurance, at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. The tournament is the sole fundraiser for the organization’s Adoption and Maternity Program. As a licensed adoption agency for 76 years, Volunteers of America is a respected pioneer in issues such as open adoption. The Adoption and Maternity Program works with both women facing unplanned pregnancies and with married couples struggling with fertility, and has united thousands of forever families over the decades.
January 22, 2018
Annual GolfStar Classic Tees Off March 13th

Grab your clubs to help children find their forever families. Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana’s annual GolfStar Classic tees off Tuesday, March 13, 2018, at TPC Louisiana (11001 Lapalco Boulevard, Avondale, LA) to benefit Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana’s Adoption and Maternity Program. All who come out to enjoy a day on the course will be treated to a day of fun and excitement with delicious food, live and silent auctions, and the opportunity to win a 2018 Honda Pilot EX-L. “For more than 25 years, this tournament has allowed us to unite adoptive families with the children they have so desperately longed for. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to our sponsors, donors, golfers and volunteers who help us create forever families,” says Jim LeBlanc, President and CEO of Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana.
January 8, 2018
Mentor Drive Pairs At-Risk Youth with Quality Mentors

In commemoration of National Mentoring Month in January, Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana is hosting a mentor drive for its Mentoring Children of Promise (MCP) and Forever Promising and Powerful Future (FPPF) programs. MCP pairs local children ages 4-18 – primarily those who have an incarcerated parent or guardian – with quality, long-term mentors; and FPPF pairs youth age 17 and under who are at-risk or are victims of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and/or domestic sex trafficking (DST) – with quality mentors. “Statistics show that 70 percent of children with a parent in prison will one day find themselves behind bars,” says Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana Program Manager Sherlyn Hughes. “But with the help of quality mentors, we can change the odds and help these kids in our Mentoring Children of Promise program stay on track.”
January 2, 2018
New Elder Financial Abuse Program Provides Resources for Seniors

Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana announces a new program to help seniors who are victims of elder financial abuse. This new program—Elderly Victim of Financial Abuse Supportive Service—is funded by the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement. “This program provides a resource for the elderly in our community to turn to if they are faced with the life-changing effects of suffering through financial abuse,” says Sherlyn Hughes, Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana’s Program Manager. “Especially around the holidays this is an important issue to be on the lookout for.” The program collaborates with community agencies to improve the lives of Orleans Parish seniors by increasing the awareness of financial abuse and exploitation while also advocating on their behalf to decrease, prevent, or remedy conditions that endanger seniors being impacted by financial abuse.
January 1, 2018
Name Changed to Southeast Louisiana to Better Reflect Service Area

For nearly 122 years, Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans has helped the most vulnerable in our community—children, families, adults in need, persons with disabilities, seniors and veterans in 16 southeast Louisiana parishes. In order to truly reflect the areas served, Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans will now be known as Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana -- effective January 1, 2018. “Our Board of Directors wanted our name to be inclusive of all of the communities in which we serve,” says James M. LeBlanc, President and CEO of Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana. “Initially, the majority of our programs had been based in the Greater New Orleans area. In recent years, we have worked hard to expand our program services to help people in St. Charles, St. John, Washington, Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. We want persons in need throughout southeast Louisiana to know they can turn to us for help.” Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana is a leading local human service provider and serves the parishes of Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Washington parishes.
December 28, 2017
RSVP Senior Volunteers with Military Service are Honored

Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans recently hosted a special Veterans Corps Pinning Ceremony and breakfast to honor senior citizens in its Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) who are military veterans. The ceremony was held at the Windsor Senior Living Community in Mandeville. There are currently 64 members in the Veterans Corps, with an additional 8 additional members added this year. In 2015, the Corporation for National and Community Service formed Veterans Corps. This group represents those who honorably served in our armed forces and continue to serve their country through Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans’ Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and other initiatives. RSVP is for those 55 and older to give back their time, skills and talents to the residents of St. Tammany Parish.