Retired Senior Volunteer Program Presents Check to St. Tammany Parish

On Saturday, August 21, a check for $1,072,784, representing the value of the service hours performed by members of our Retired Senior Volunteer Program, was presented to the St. Tammany Parish Presidents’ Office. The check was accepted by John Tobin, Director of Social Services for St. Tammany Parish (pictured right of our CEO Jim LeBlanc). The presentation was held during Volunteers of America’s annual St. Tammany Parish Recognition Luncheon, held at the Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville for participants in RSVP. In attendance were Volunteers of America CEO Jim LeBlanc and 164 RSVP Volunteers from across St. Tammany Parish. Dancing, lunch and socializing followed the presentation. Our Retired Senior Volunteer Program offers a variety of service opportunities for volunteers 55 and older to use their skills and life experiences to help meet critical needs across St. Tammany Parish.

Summer Fun at Lighthouse

The Lighthouse After School Program has big plans in store for its summer program, running from 6/17 through 7/16. First on the agenda is improving students' LEAP (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) test scores - The Lighthouse Program will be running a remedial LEAP course beginning June 2 for the June 28 re-test.

The main offerings of the program will be offered at Lighthouse's four schools - Thurgood Marshall High, Gentilly Terrace, Medard Nelson, and Pierre Capdau. This year, however, Capdau's program will be incorporated into Gentilly Terrace's as the school is currently seeking a new location. Each school will host 100-125 students (with the exception of Gentilly, which will host ~250 students after its integration with Capdau) and offer activities including, but not limited to: dance instruction, African drumming, karate lessons, swimming lessons, athletics (soccer and tennis are brand new as of this year) and a chess league.

Two featured programs for this year that the Lighthouse Program leaders are especially excited for are the Uptown Music Theater and Fresh Voices. The Uptown Music Theater, a collaboration with the Marsalis family, will work towards putting on a production of "The Wiz". Various artists will assist the Lighthouse kids in setting up and putting on the production, which will be presented at the La Petit Theater at the end of camp.

Fresh Voices, a collaboration with Century 21 and the American Theater Project, allows Lighthouse kids to write and produce their own plays based on personal experiences living in the inner city. The program will primarily focus on the work created by students from Thurgood Marshall High School, but will also incorporate other innercity children who want to express their experiences. The program is tuition-free and still accepting applications; if you or if you know of someone who is interested, call Ed Bishop at Thurgood Marshall High School, 504-361-4627 (or e-mail him @ ed-bishop@hotmail.com) to set up an appointment. Like the Uptown Music Theater, the program will culminate in a production at the end of camp at a to-be-named venue (stay tuned!).

Other Lighthouse projects in the works include setting up a community center, which, as Kevin Scott, Program Coordinator for Lighthouse, says: "It's all part of helping not only the children [in the program] but their families as well".

Stay tuned...it promises to be an interesting and productive summer for our Lighthouse program.

Seniors Living in Style

The Terraces at Tulane is a newly constructed 200 Unit Senior Housing Development with a 3,000 square-foot community center and health clinic located at 3615 Tulane Avenue in New Orleans. It is managed by the Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation, a partnership between Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans and Volunteers of America's national office to create 1,000 housing units in post-Katrina New Orleans. The Terraces replaces a development located in New Orleans East that was rendered inoperable by the storm.

All apartments at the Terraces are one-bedroom units and provide housing for senior residents aged 62 and older who have incomes at or below 50% of the area median income. The location offers excellent access to public transit, medical care services, and basic commercial services. Two other major tax credit developments are now under construction within six blocks east of the site.

For more info on the Terraces at Tulane, visit RNDC's website here, or call 504-482-2440 to reserve an apartment.