TCU Food Bank Pleads for Help at Terrebonne Parish Council Meeting

Terrebonne Churches United Food Bank Executive Director Lawrence DeHart gave a Post-Ida presentation at last night’s Terrebonne Parish Council meeting.

The local food bank has stepped up since Hurricane Ida to take care of the people of the parish. TCU never closed before, during, or after the storm. DeHart shared they were out the night of the storm because they received a call needing supplies. Despite Ida ravaging the area, the foodbank was ready to serve and was delivering supplies once again by 7:30 the next morning.

“I want to give you an idea of where we stand as a parish from a human standpoint,” he began. He compared years 2020 and 2021 which had quite a difference. In 2020, the COVID pandemic was at a high, and they served 21,800 people with 1,2500,000 pounds of food valued at $2,025,000. An interesting fact is a year before COVID, they served 10,000 people. That’s more than double in one year.

The people of the parish not only dealt with COVID, but Hurricane Ida ravaged the south as well. This brought their numbers up tremendously. In 2021, they served 26,000 people with 1,800,000 pounds of food valued at $3,000,000. He shared of course the budget does not cover that much food, but they always find a way to move forward, partner with others, and get the demand met. DeHart reminded the council that the food comes at no cost to Terrebonne Parish. They are able to operate with money they raised with grants, donations, and their activities.

They also provided food and supplies for cooking trucks to give out over 100,000 meals. “The one thing that we end up doing that we can’t tangibly tabulate,” he said,” is during the storm we had over 10 cooking trailers who were only there for one or two days at a time. Every day we had eight to ten cooking trailers come and shop at the food bank and use our stores so they can stay longer because long-term MREs are not a healthy option.”

They saw a larger need when Thanksgiving rolled around. They had eight distributions and eight days at five different locations. He said traditionally, they would have from 1,500 to 2,000 people in those eight days, they served 3,171 people and handed out over 103,000 pounds of food which did include a turkey. He said it typically slows down after the holidays, however, January and February have shown no signs of slowing down. He said they still have a mass amount of people hurting and needing help. They average 1,500 people a month in the slower beginning months, but they have seen over 2,000 people and they are ahead of last year by over 1,000 people served just in the first two months.

He pointed out an issue in the parish. There are 15,527 seniors aged 65 and over in Terrebonne according to the U.S. Census. In 2021, the food bank has assisted over 35 percent of the seniors, and so far in the first two months of 2022, the number is up 32 percent over the same time period of last year. He predicted that the issue will only get worse before it gets better.

TCU works with 18 partner agencies in various capacities and they have conversations on the needs of people. One thing they have noticed, he said, is an increase in domestic and sexual abuse. Another issue that has risen is substance abuse which DeHart said he sees as the problem in most homeless people that come through the food bank. “I will tell you that in all of the years I’ve been associated with the food bank, it’s bad, it’s almost out of control,” he said.

Many economic issues are having an impact on everything right now. Supply chain issues have caused serious food shortages, inflation has been a major factor, and rising fuel costs are contributing to issues as well. He shared that the same 10-pound bag of chicken that recently cost $2.50 a bag now costs nearly $8.00. It’s because of the inflation they are having to find alternatives. These have caused issues, especially with the senior population because they tend to have different dietary needs and it has been difficult to get.

He concluded by sharing some stats that TCU is the only top ten food bank in the state that receives no funding from the parish in which they are located. “Yet, we’re still here,” he said,” every time this parish has asked us to step up…we step up. I’m just asking for some permanent funding.” He said it brings him to tears when he speaks with other organizations out of the area and they share the generosity of the help they get from their local government. Area such as Lake Charles and Hammond have shared they serve less than what TCU does with a budget of over $1 million and when asked about his budget serving as many people as they have, DeHart said “We’re working with a budget of $700,000.” He said they want to step up even more especially with hurricane season being only 80 days away. They are already in hurricane prep mode and said they want to do things even better. Being that their resources are getting limited. Their building still isn’t repaired because they are fighting with the insurance company. He had to ask himself,” Do I dig in my reserves to serve people, or do I dig in my reserves to get my building fixed?” “We’re asking for your help. We need additional funding, we’re not asking for a lot, $300,000, so anywhere y’all can add it to a budget, it would make a huge difference.”

Councilman Daniel Babin said he wanted to add the presentation to the agenda, “If yall haven’t been to the old place on Magnolia, If you ever went there, you’d wonder how they served as many meals as they did out of there. The new place on Sunset is absolutely fabulous and I go there quite often,” he said,” if you haven’t been there, you need to go by.” He said they give a lot of things in the parish, and he agrees with DeHart, but Babin believes it needs to be looked at as a budgetary item. “I really think that this council needs to take a long, hard look at giving permanent help to a food bank that is doing this type of work,” Babin said. Councilman Carl Harding, Councilman Dirk Guidry, Councilman John Navy voiced their agreement with Babin saying that they need to support the food bank. “Let’s not forget about this when Lawerence leaves tonight, let’s make sure we keep this on the front burner. Work with the administration and see what we can do to help the food bank. Just from the numbers they presented us tonight, we almost ought to be ashamed of ourselves that we haven’t done it in the past,” Babin said.