TCU Foodbank celebrates 35 years of service to our communities

Terrebonne Churches United Foodbank hosted a 35 year celebration ceremony on Thursday, February 23 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at Courthouse Square in Downtown Houma.

The program included comments from TCU Foodbank President John Welch; Executive Director Lawrence DeHart; Councilman Dirk Guidry; Mart Black, Director of Coastal Restoration with TPCG; Congressman Garret Graves; Mike Ince, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs from Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser’s Office; and John “Spud” McConnell.

TCU Foodbank President John Welch shared how far the foodbank has come, from just a tiny building to the huge operation it has grown into today. He recognized the staff, the volunteers and the board for helping the food bank to stay on mission. “We look forward to many more years of serving people, because the need isn’t going to get any smaller, it’s just going to get greater. We are looking to the future and to what God will let us do as far as it comes to feeding the people of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.”

“We are a better community and a better people because of the foodbank and the people who work and volunteer there,” shared Mart Black.

Councilman Dirk Guidry shared what it means to be local, and have a local foodbank here in our parishes. “What does the word local mean when it comes to the TCU foodbank? Local means that even in the middle of hurricanes, they are out there in the storm to deliver supplies to every shelter of last resort. Local means that in the middle of the covid crisis, being on hand to work with other agencies to home-deliver food to those who tested positive. Local means that in emergencies we are minutes from responding instead of days. Local means working with local government agencies for years such as the EOC to help coordinate responses and recovery. Local means being trusted as a ready resource on hand when a situation arrises. Local means that we keep food here, on-hand, not waiting to see what other organizations send us. Local means putting the community first. Local means we spend the money get, putting it back into the communities we serve. Local means our staff is apart of this community, not just an occasional visitor. Local means designing programs to help people specifically in the community with its unique needs, not just some national one size fits all program. Local means working closely with our community friends and agencies to keep them aware of the needs. Local means being here every day, being available every day, and putting out our services every day.”

Congressman Garret Graves shared, “This isn’t some big government program. This is the churches, this is the community, this is you coming together. This is the generosity of south Louisiana coming together to serve our brothers and sisters and its been amazing.” Graves also shared how new legislation will work in emergencies, allowing funding to go straight to entities such as the TCU Foodbank: “A lot of times, people try to come in and recreate the wheel. We saw what happened after all the hurricanes, and how our local foodbanks work all year long to provide… when a hurricane comes, that need goes up exponentially. So instead of coming in and trying to recreate the wheel, we changed federal law to allow the foodbanks to get direct assistance from FEMA to where the foodbanks can now serve these communities and get federal funding. You already have an existing operation that is very efficient, why not just help to build on that existing capacity?”

Closing out the program was Executive Director Lawrence Dehart.

Terrebonne Churches United Foodbank was founded in 1987 when a group of churches of different faiths joined to help end food insecurity in Terrebonne Parish. In 2022, over a million meals were served out of the current foodbank building. The Governor of the State of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, recently declared that February 23, 2023 as Terrebonne Churches United Foodbank Day in honor of its “35 years of service and dedication to the people of the state of Louisiana.”