Planting Seeds and Feeding the Masses

For those who know Trixy Boudreaux, receiving the Outstanding Citizen Award at a recent Lafourche Parish Council meeting was not a surprise. However, Trixy was shocked and humbled by the recognition, and immediately recognized the team of people behind her for making her achievements possible. “I have been so touched by it, and it has been such a great journey for me,” she said. 

As Hurricane Ida passed over the boot, Trixy and her family were trying to get information from social media, as they had evacuated to Texas. She recalls telling her husband that they had to something to bring valuable information to one place. “I felt in my heart that God was telling me, this is when you need to come in,” she said. She created Down the Bayou Recovery Facebook group to disseminate credible information in one place, and alleviate the chaos that was circling in social media platforms. “When things come to a crunch, that’s when I kick into gear,” she said, “I can put something together in a short amount of time.” This trait, along with many others, is what became a leading factor in her success to help the community get back on their feet following one of the worst storms the area has seen.

Like many, Trixy’s home had damage. Upon returning home, she recalls looking at her husband and saying, “This place will never be the same.” She felt the calling to help her community even more, “God planted a seed,” she said, “I didn’t contact Father Greg and I knew I wanted to do something for Sacred Heart. A couple of days later, Father Greg passes down my street and rolls his window down, and I said, Father Greg, I really need to talk to you.” They chatted and she told him she needed to do something for the community and wanted to do it through Sacred Heart, the church she attends in Cut Off. The church had a supply drive the Thursday following the storm but didn’t have a lot of help. Trixy coordinated a drive that Saturday where Catholic Charities was involved, and it was at that point Trixy became a point of contact. To show that it was in God’s plan, while everyone else was having phone service problems, she never lost service. And that was just the beginning.

They started with collecting and distributing supplies but it grew into bigger things such as meals. At one point, they were distributing almost 4,000 meals a day, and that lasted for at least a month. They began to ask people what they needed most, and at the time, it was fuel and ice. She reached out to a few people and it just so happened that a friend’s brother in Lake Charles had a fuel truck to help out. Despite her offering to pay for the fuel, he denied it and covered the cost bringing 1,000 gallons of fuel to the church for free distribution. They also distributed ice with the help of another generous donor. “I just feel like God put me into a position to help our community and I feel like my purpose in life is to serve others,” she said.

From start to finish, Trixy estimates, through Sacred Heart,  they gave out a million dollars worth of food and supplies to the community thanks to donors, individuals in the community, and church groups that came to help. Trixy remembers, “It was amazing! If we ran out of food from one group cooking, someone else would show up.” She admits that God was there, because people would show up to meet needs right when they needed it. 

“Now that I’m home and my house is being gutted, and I have carpenters here, and I’m trying to get everything done, I feel like there’s not enough time in the day, but I never felt that then,” she said. Trixy admits that God carried her through it the entire way. When the volunteers felt they needed rest, it would be on a day where the weather wasn’t cooperative with the mission.

She voiced that they all felt unseen at one point in the process, but somehow by word of mouth, the word got out. They had groups from Illinois, New York, Texas, Mississippi, and all over the nation that came to donate supplies and to cook for the masses. Not only did she meet people from all over the country, but she also met friends that became family from right here in the community who still reach out to check on her. “If there’s anything positive that came from Ida it’s the friendships that we made,” she said. A mission that started with a planted seed, turned into a classic feed the masses with one loaf of bread story.

“I’m just one person,” Trixy said, “I had a team of wonderful people behind me and helped out so much.” She said the people were always ready to help, and although the list is a long one to show gratitude, she especially wants to thank Father Greg and Father Joey for showing support through the whole process, and a special thanks to the Sacred Heart family along with all of the various volunteers. 

“I just want to thank everybody, Father Greg and Joey, for the church for allowing us to do the mission through them, and the donors that made all of our efforts possible,” she tearfully concluded. POV