DL Wealth Management keeping up with economy
April 23, 2013
She’s one unique teen: Local juggles many crafts
April 30, 2013
The goal of retirement is to prop your feet up and maybe get in a little more fishing or plant a flower garden, but all that hard-earned leisure time is filled to the brim with things to do for one local retiree.
“I am considerably busier now than when I was working,” said Houma native Percy Rodriguez. “Of all the causes I am involved in now that I am retired, I couldn’t pick a favorite. I just work to preserve the Cajun culture.”
Rodriguez’s busy schedule has earned him the Coastal Retiree of the Year award from the Coastal Chapter of the Retired State Employee Association of Louisiana, and the award title is quite appropriate since Rodriguez spends most of his days working to protect the coast as well as areas farther inland.
“When I was a child, I fished and shrimped with my dad in lower areas of the parish, and places I used to walk are now open water,” he said. “The Acadians were forced to move here, and I don’t want our people to have to move again. I want to save our culture, and I encourage all to do it. It is incredibly important to be involved, to save our coast and culture.”
Since retiring in 2008, Rodriguez has furthered his passion for the coast as a volunteer recruiter for Voice of the Wetlands festival in Houma and a volunteer for the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. He also works with the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government to help address blighted property and debris in the area.
“I love to get my hands dirty, doing stuff like beach sweeps,” Rodriguez said. “Those are the best volunteer projects, the ones where you get your hands dirty. When I work with the visitor’s bureau, I travel to events and man a booth and explain our culture to people, and, when I work for Voice of Wetlands, I am in constant and total recruitment mode. I recruit in a structured way, and my years of work for the state were very helpful with teaching me how to do that.”
Rodriguez, who also owns a consulting business, gained his logistics knowledge during his 32 years as an employee with the state Department of Labor, and, in those years, he served as state director of apprenticeship, regional manager of workforce development and assistant office manager of the Louisiana Job Service in Houma.
“I spent half of my career working at a local office here in Houma,” he said. “Working for the government helped me build a treasure chest of organizational skills.”
Over the years, Rodriguez has been a featured speaker at events such as the Southern States Apprenticeship Conference, the American Apprenticeship Round Table and the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and he has also received a National Citation for Program Excellence and Innovation from the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. as well as a Citation for Achievement from the Governor’s Office of Louisiana for the Louisiana Human Resource Performance Project.
“I was surprised to be named Retiree of the Year,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve only been a member of the chapter for about year, and I’m always on the lookout for volunteers for my causes. The association is a great resource for my efforts, and it gives me a sense of accreditation to receive the accolade.”
“It’s special to be part of the chapter,” he continued. “These people worked the trenches just like me.”
Fred Duplechin, president of the Coastal Chapter of the Retired State Employee Association of Louisiana, nominated Rodriguez for the award.
“I read about Percy’s work in the community in the newspaper a few years ago,” Duplechin said. “His work with the tourism commission and blighted property, issues that affect community, is big, and, once I interviewed him, I also saw that his big passion is the Voice of Wetlands event.”
Duplechin and other board members of 348-member chapter, which encompasses Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. James, St. John and Assumption parishes, voted for the contest, and Rodriguez was presented his award at the chapter’s annual meeting in March.
“The nominees must have had an exemplary state career and must be active in the community during their retirement,” he said. “We need someone out there being the eyes and ears of the retirees, and Percy fits the bill. There are many retirees living in this area, and he is concerned about the area where these retirees live. Percy made a nice honoree.”
Houma native Percy Rodriguez has been named Coastal Retiree of the Year by the Coastal Chapter of the Retired State Employee Association of Louisiana. Rodriguez is active in the community and works to recruit volunteers for the Voice of the Wetlands festival, which is hosted each year at Southdown Plantation in Houma.
