Kiwanis Club of Lake Charles improving the world one community, one child at a time
Published 7:20 am Sunday, December 24, 2023
- Abraham’s Tent volunteers unload coats collected, donated and delivered by the Kiwanis Club of Lake Charles on Dec. 14. (Donna Price / American Press)
Southwest Louisiana is in the midst of coat weather. The Kiwanis Club of Lake Charles is ready, though, making sure those who need a coat, have one.
The Kiwanis Club of Lake Charles, founded in 1919, has been serving the community by collecting coats and dollars for 35 years. Their mission is to improve the world one child and one community at a time. Part of their efforts include the annual Coats for Kids drive as well as their Coats of Kids Spooktacular fundraiser.
The money raised from the Spooktacular’s auction, as well as donations from sponsors, are then split between The Potter’s House, Harbour House, The Lord’s Place, Boys Village, Oasis Women’s Shelter, CPSB McKinney-Vento for Homeless Children, Abraham’s Tent, Care Help of Sulphur, DeWanna’s Community Closet and CARC.
The charities were chosen because of their services to underprivileged and special needs children and adults, according to Kiwanis member Steve Ek, a coordinator for the coats drive.
Over the past two weeks, the 10 organizations have each received 200 coats — and this week the groups were presented with $3,200 checks from the auction proceeds.
Boys Village
Paul Bray, director of Boys Village, said he was thankful for the donations as the center is now hosting 29 boys.
“We’re really excited to get our numbers up and continue working with at-risk youth,” he said.
Bray said most of the boys are middle school- and high school-aged who live on campus and are able to earn home passes during their care.
“They’re generally with us about six to eight months as we transition them back into their homes and, hopefully, send them back with more tools to deal with whatever issues they’re dealing with.”
DeWanna’s Community Closet
DeWanna Tarver, founder of DeWanna’s Community Closet, said one of the surprising revelations her team has discovered this year while distributing school clothing for area students is how much they’ve given out in the first half of the term.
“We’ve already given out as many clothes from August to December as we did all of last year,” she said. “When we saw that number going up, we with visited with area principals to make sure everything is still kilter and they’re still following our policies as far as who gets the clothing and we’re consistently hearing that those families that in past years that were barely making it aren’t making it any more. They don’t have money for clothes and shoes. They’re truly trying to provide for themselves but they just can’t do it.”
She said her Food for Thought program is also consistently feeding 1,300 students each weekend.
“Right now our expenses are running us over $10,000 a week so donations like this make all the difference in us being able to serve the at-risk kids in Calcasieu Parish.”
Care Help
Jody Farnum, executive director of Care Help of Sulphur, said the 200 coats her organization received from the Coats for Kids drive were all handed out within the first two weeks of receiving them.
The group primarily helps families in emergency situations and receives about 75 percent of their income from their thrift store sales of gently used, donated items.
“Like DeWanna we do Backpack Blessings for children in our program and we serve 780 students a week in West Calcasieu and Cameron Parish, which is fairly expensive,” she said.
One of their more cherished moments each year is when they bring the children in to Christmas shop for their families in their thrift store — at no cost.
“We had 127 children come shop and this was our sixth year to do it,” she said. “We had over 300 people attend and we had Santa and a professional photographer and it was just amazing because a lot of our children that we feed and parents that we feed on a monthly basis cannot afford to go take pictures with Santa so they got to leave that day with a professional picture of their whole family. There was no limit on how many pictures they could take and then they were serenaded by singer Jo-El Sonnier and they were fed gumbo.”
CARC
John Coleman, assistant executive director of CARC, said the organization is in the process of rebuilding its day program that will provide daily activities for the disabled residents of Southwest Louisiana.
“It gives them a better quality of life and the program has been closed since 2020,” he said. “We’re finally getting ready to start it back up and its because of support like this that we’re able to provide those opportunities.”
CPSB McKinney-Vento program
Ruth Robertson, coordinator for the Calcasieu Parish School Board McKinney-Vento program for homeless children, said her group couldn’t do what it does without the support of organization such as the Kiwanis Club.
“When you say homeless you think, ‘Oh, they don’t have a place to stay,’ and that’s not necessarily the case,” she said. “We have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends raising and taking care of children who are not theirs so those children qualify for the program and it’s considered they are experiencing homelessness,” she said. “We are able to fund things through the help of Kiwanis such as summer camps for these children and experiences they would not have otherwise. It truly does make a huge difference in their lives.”
Oasis Women’s Shelter
Ashley William, assistant director of Oasis A Safe Haven for Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence, said their doors will be opening soon after their building took a tremendous hit during Hurricane Laura.
“We’ve been receiving assistance to put families in hotels and nearby shelters so people who are experiencing domestic violence will have a place to go.”
She said the agency’s sexual assault program is continuing to grow, with the group receiving its 200th call-out.
“Unfortunately, not all cases are reported so we know there is more,” Williams said. “It’s happening right here in our backyard in every demographic. In order to support those victims, we need members like Kiwanis and we are so grateful.”
The Potter’s House
The Rev. Leona Benoit, founder of The Potter’s House, said her shelter “always has a revolving door” of people in need.”
The Potter’s House, established in 1989, is for women and children. The Lord’s Place, established in 1992, is for men.
“Potter’s House is not state- or government-funded so whatever donations we receive are truly, truly appreciated and to God be the glory that our doors have been open by faith for nearly 35 years,” she said.
The Lord’s Place
Russell Benoit is the director of The Lord’s Place and said homeless is being more prevalent in the area.
“When you think of homelessness, you think drug addicts, but a lot of homeless people we serve are people who are elderly and folks that have mental issues and they can’t stay at their home or they can only stay at a hospital for so many days,” he said. “We take them in and we help them to get redirected and get relocated with their families. We are thankful for the help we receive and the prayers we receive to help us keep doing what we’re doing.”
Ek said the club has collected and distributed more than 35,000 coats since the program’s inception 35 years ago.
“Kiwanis Club is a facilitator of this project, but the real heroes out there are the families and the schools and the businesses where we place collection boxes,” he said. “And this would also not happen without the free services that we have received from AAA Cleaners over the past years and now at present Runte Lake Cleaners.”
