2024 Service Work
Non-Profit Of The Month
DECEMBER 2024:
NOVEMBER 2024:
OCTOBER 2024: SUPPORT WNC AND TN FISHING GUIDES AFTER HURRICANE HELENE
Hey everyone. Zack Davis here with Brown Trout Fly Fishing, LLC. I live in Canton, NC, and have been guiding here for about a decade.
As you know, Western NC and surrounding areas have been and are in ruins after Hurricane Helene. The area is facing devastation beyond anything we could ever comprehend. “Biblical” is the term they’re using.
The communities here are working as hard as they can to get supplies and help out across the region, and ongoing search and rescue efforts are happening. Federal help is here, and they’re working alongside local Emergency Services to get to those in need. The terrain here is making it very difficult to get to everyone in a timely fashion. The toll the hurricane has taken is large. So large it’s going to take a long time for this area to recover fully, and we’re all absolutely heartbroken. Communities in and around the Asheville area are coming together the best they can with what they’ve got, and we’ve seen so much love pouring through with everyone willing to help. My goal here is to start organizing a relief fund for guides in the area that have been impacted the most. I know a lot of these folks, and they’re all such caring, wonderful individuals and stand-up people in the community. We all work together on the same rivers here and support each other.
These funds will help the guides get through this time and give support for loss of wages.
A lot of these guides are also contributing their time to help others in need and have homes to rebuild or repair and families to take care of.
We’re going to be out of work for a little while, and we aren’t sure what the safety of those rivers in our WNC or Eastern TN look like or even accessibility to the areas we love the most. Not to mention if the area and communities will be ready for visitors due to access to goods and services for the people that live here. I’m not sure what each guide needs and how many we’re trying to help, but there’s a lot of us in these mountains all over the place. Even if we’re back to work in mid-October, which isn’t likely, that leaves maybe a month to work in November before our slow season begins and then won’t pick back up until spring. We’re working on rescheduling as much as possible, but the future is unclear on when we will get back to work. Guiding is a profession of passion. We depend on our home waters and the communities that surround us.
I’ll be reaching out to outfitters and guides to start building a spreadsheet of how many folks we are going to try and help.
I’ll also start working with other organizations to begin collecting and distributing funds as they come in.
The funds raised will be sent to shop owners and managers to be spread out to their guides accordingly so guides can get food and water, fuel, supplies, or anything else they need for their families.
SEPTEMBER 2024: COALITION TO RESTORE COASTAL LOUISIANA - OYSTER SHELL RECYCLING PROGRAM
CRCL established the Oyster Shell Recycling Program (OSRP) in 2014 to keep shell out of landfills and slow coastal land loss. In partnership with New Orleans-area restaurants and our legion of volunteers, we collect oyster shells to restore reefs that help protect Louisiana’s eroding coastline. Since starting the program in 2014, we have recycled more than 14 million pounds of shell and protected over 8,000 feet of shoreline along the coast. Once you shuck ’em, don’t just chuck ’em!
Oyster are an incredible natural resource! Living oysters and oyster reefs help improve water quality, provide fishing habitat, support the local economy and help protect shoreline by breaking waves. Oyster shell is the best substrate for baby oysters. Louisiana produces approximately one-third of the nation’s oysters. Louisiana currently experiences a shell deficit – most shell removed from the coast is not returned. While oyster harvesters, fishing communities and some processors have returned shells to the water for centuries, oysters that are consumed in restaurants often end up in landfills.
100% of the shell is returned to Louisiana waters. In partnership with local communities and over 2,000 volunteers, CRCL has constructed over 8,000 feet of oyster reef living shoreline protection with our recycled shell. Our reefs enhance local fisheries, reduce shoreline erosion as much as 50%, and help protect irreplaceable cultural heritage sites. CRCL constructs one recycled oyster reef per year. Each reef is monitored annually to assess shoreline changes and biological development.
AUGUST 2024: NASHVILLE CAT RESCUE
Founded in October 2005, Nashville Cat Rescue has placed more than 18,000 cats into loving forever homes. What started with just one adoption center and four foster homes has grown to a network of more than 50 foster homes, 100 volunteers, and 6 adoption centers.
NCR’s mission is to rescue cats and kittens from Middle Tennessee area streets and high-kill shelters and adopt them into loving homes. We focus on rescuing cats and kittens who have been abandoned, rescued from neglectful or abusive homes, or are at risk of euthanasia at high-kill shelters.
We receive over 16,000 intake requests per year, many for special-needs cats or kittens requiring advanced medical care. NCR enforces no age limit on intakes and rescues countless cats who would be euthanized upon intake at a shelter.
Operating without a brick-and-mortar rescue facility and without paid staff, NCR relies on the hard work and dedication of our foster parents and volunteers to help rescue, house, and prepare our cats for adoption.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, NCR relies almost exclusively on funding from grants, private donations, and adoption fees to operate. Every dollar received by NCR goes directly towards rescue, foster, adoption, and programs that educate the public on the importance of responsible pet ownership.
JULY 2024: NEW ORLEANS WOMEN & CHILDREN'S SHELTER
As the largest organization serving homeless women and children in New Orleans, we are dedicated to creating a safe, secure and stable environment where classes, tools and resources build the pathway to success. Our wraparound programs keep families together and empower self-sufficiency—every step of the journey.
Our mission is to enable women and their children to transition from a life of homelessness and poverty to one of stability and self-sufficiency.
We provide so much more than shelter and meals – all at no cost to our families – we also provide intensive case management during our residents’ stay and for at least 18 months afterwards, children’s programs (after-school and summer), workforce development programs, financial literacy, and more!
JUNE 2024: A. C. LEWIS YMCA
The Y is a nonprofit, community service organization with a focus on strengthening the community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. The Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the nation’s health and well-being and provides opportunities to give back and support neighbors. The Y makes sure that everyone, regardless of age, income, religion or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive.
The A. C. Lewis YMCA is a mid-city branch that has been serving the community since 1963. The Y is more than a gym. We are an inclusive organization inspiring people of all ages, abilities and incomes to live healthier in spirit, mind and body. At the Y, we don’t just provide programs and services, we transform lives.
MAY 2024: DEBBIE'S DREAM FOUNDATION: CURING STOMACH CANCER
Debbie’s Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about stomach cancer, advancing funding for research, and providing education and support internationally to patients, families, and caregivers. DDF seeks as its ultimate goal to make the cure for stomach cancer a reality.
APRIL 2024: HOGS FOR THE CAUSE
Not only does cancer take an enormous toll on the mental and physical health of the patients and its family members – it also has a tremendous financial impact. The costs associated with childhood cancer make it a struggle for families to get by and meet their needs while also being able to get their child to lifesaving treatment. For families already living in poverty, these difficulties are often multiplied.
At its heart, Hogs for the Cause is more than just a food and music festival. It’s a beacon of hope for families in the throes of pediatric brain cancer. The money raised is given as “no strings attached” grants, allowing families to use the funds for anything they need, from medical expenses to a fun family outing. To date, Hogs for the Cause has provided over 1,600 direct grants to families in need across various states, including Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia.
MARCH 2024: HENRY AUCOIN FOUNDATION - HENRY'S HEARTS GALA
The Henry Aucoin Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in order to help families coming to New Orleans with children requiring heart surgeries, procedures, medication, equipment and transplants, as well as to give back to the community through special projects & events. We seek to improve the experience and quality of life for pediatric heart patients and their families.
We are thrilled to announce that Henry’s Hearts Gala will be held Friday, March 8, 2024, at The Alexander Room in Metairie. Our goal is to raise money to distribute grants to families of children with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) who are traveling to New Orleans and placed under financial burden(s) – whether it’s due to surgeries, procedures, medications, medical equipment, or other necessary resources. All proceeds from Henry’s Hearts Gala will benefit the Henry Aucoin Foundation (HAF), which will allocate these funds to pediatric heart patients and their families.
FEBRUARY 2024: LOUISIANA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS - CELEBRATION FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
LCCR protects the constitutional right to an attorney for more than 90% of New Orleans’ children in the juvenile legal system – 447 children in 2022. Additionally, though our partnership with the East Baton Rouge Office of the Public Defender, we provided social work support to another 174 children last year. We’re so much more than a nonprofit law office though. We meet our kids at a moment of crisis and provide the wraparound services necessary to leave the legal system behind for good. We help our kids enroll in school, secure special education supports, access job training, and address trauma.
The result? More kids staying in their homes, schools, and communities. This means healthier young people, safer neighborhoods, and saved taxpayer dollars. We’re continually inspired by the strength of our kids and how, working with LCCR’s programming, they build brighter futures for themselves.
The Celebration for Children’s Rights affords us the opportunity to celebrate our successes and come together to make Louisiana a better place for all children.
JANUARY 2024: HOME IS HERE NOLA - COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND LEGAL AID PROJECT
More asylum-seekers are detained in LA than in any other state in the nation outside of TX. The 4,000 people held daily in the 9 rural LA jails are isolated from support as well as any type of legal representation needed to make their asylum claims.
Home is Here NOLA is a local nonprofit with a mission to build community-based systems of support with newly arriving immigrants in the Gulf South. Newly arriving immigrants state that the three most critical needs they have in our region include community relationships, housing, and legal aid. Home is Here’s work focuses on building capacity in these areas.
Home is Here and its partners have developed a unique solution as part of a statewide Community Education and Legal Aid Project. After months of community mapping and consultation, they have developed a specialized curriculum for post-release legal orientation that offers basics on how to navigate immigration processes when people are just arriving or just released from detention. This innovative orientation includes information most frequently asked for by new arrivals and includes essential and practical tools that people can immediately use to guide their way if they don’t have an attorney.
This is a critically important and practical step to offering accessible legal aid to one of the most invisible communities in our state who need it most – asylum-seekers.
We hope to translate the curriculum into languages most used by arriving asylum-seekers and train community partners to implement these critical legal aid orientations where they are most needed in Louisiana.
