2025 Service Work
Non-Profit Of The Month
DECEMBER 2025:
NOVEMBER 2025:
OZANAM INN 28TH ANNUAL FORGOTTEN ANGELS CHRISTMAS PARTY
Ozanam Inn is in preparation for our 28th Annual Forgotten Angels Christmas Party. Part of that celebration includes our Forgotten Angels Scholarship Fund, which we launched several years ago to help young people living in homeless shelters with expenses associated with higher education.
For those who may have attended in years past, perhaps you can remember the unforgettable expressions and excitement of the children who sat patiently and curiously peering at the many gifts stacked beneath the Christmas tree. Each child, for that one moment, was able to share in a gala that was all his or her own. Equally moving was the expressions of joy on the parents’ faces as they watched their children walk amidst the lights, Santa Clause, and numerous gifts with excitement. It was truly a sight to behold!
This year’s event will be held on Saturday, December 13, 2025, at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church (Center) 10021 Jefferson Hwy., River Ridge, LA.
We ask for your help in making this year’s Forgotten Angels Christmas Party another success, one that will brighten the lives of many children and families. With your gift of, cash donations, new toys, new clothes, new books, etc., you become part of a celebration that symbolizes the true nature of giving and the reward of blessing others.
Please make all checks payable to Ozanam Inn with Forgotten Angels Party or Forgotten Angels Scholarship written in the memo section of the check. If you are donating gifts, we ask that they remain unwrapped so that we are able to sort them appropriately for our young participants. Please mail or drop off at 2239 Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA 70119 by December 5, 2025.
SUPPORT JAMAICA
Hurricane Melissa, a powerful Category 5 storm, has passed, leaving widespread devastation across Jamaica.
Thousands of people have been affected, with families displaced, homes destroyed, and livelihoods shattered. Now begins the hard road to recovery. Together, let’s stand ready to help families rebuild their homes, restore their lives, and bring hope back to our nation.
OCTOBER 2025:
NH COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS
SEPTEMBER 2025: ACLU (AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION)
The ACLU has evolved over the years. What began as a small group of idealists taking a stand against the government in 1920 has grown into the nation’s premier defender of the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. With more than 500,000 members, nearly 200 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys, and offices throughout the nation, the ACLU of today continues to fight government abuse and to vigorously defend individual freedoms including speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, citizens’ rights to privacy and much more.
AUGUST 2025: MIRACLE LEAGUE NORTHSHORE
Miracle League Northshore is a nonprofit organization that provides sports leagues to children with special needs. We make the accommodations needed so that every child, regardless of their level of ability, has the opportunity to play on a team sport.
The mission of the Miracle League Northshore is to promote the health and well-being of children with disabilities, provide opportunities for able-bodied children to learn about and interact with children with disabilities, and develop community awareness and support for the child athlete with disabilities through organized sports leagues.
Each program year is divided into two, eight-week baseball seasons that run in the Fall and Spring. The soccer season takes place in the Winter, while basketball is played in the Summer. Miracle League Northshore aims to hold all games on Saturdays.
JULY 2025: TOUPS' FAMILY MEAL
Our non-profit organization, Toups’ Family Meal, was established in response to the urgent needs revealed during the challenges faced by local communities in New Orleans. Initially emerging as a grassroots effort in March 2020, as a response to COVID-19, to provide meals to those affected by the closure of restaurants and widespread food insecurity, we have since evolved into a dedicated entity committed to addressing hunger and transportation insecurities. Our mission is to alleviate these critical issues by providing essential nourishment to families in need, with a focus on supporting children and individuals facing food insecurity in Orleans Parish. Recognizing the profound impact of our work, which has included serving over 100,000 meals to date, we are steadfast in our commitment to continue our efforts through various initiatives such as our summer meal program, disaster relief, holiday meal distribution, and community outreach in food deserts.
JUNE 2025: EDUCARE NEW ORLEANS
The first 5 years of your child’s development matter. We make every day count at Educare New Orleans. Our high-quality, research driven early childhood education model is proven to develop curious and capable children. Serving infants to five year olds, we partner with parents to ensure every Educare student has the opportunity and skills to thrive in kindergarten and beyond.
Educare New Orleans is the first early childhood development and education facility of its kind in the Gulf South. As a network of early learning schools across the country, Educare uses a shared platform to leverage strong and lasting investments in early childhood education for low-income families.
The power of the Educare model is derived from core features working together in a comprehensive, intentional and sustained way to achieve a high-quality early childhood learning experience that helps children from birth to age 5 grow up safe, healthy and ready and eager to learn.
MAY 2025: 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.
APRIL 2025: 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.
MARCH 2025: LOUISIANA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS - CELEBRATION FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
Using direct representation and advocacy, the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights fights to keep children out of the legal system so that they can thrive in their homes and communities.
Every child can reach their potential, but children of color and poor children are routinely denied the resources and opportunities they need to do so. Instead, many are funneled into a justice system that only makes it harder to succeed.
The Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights is a nonprofit law office that stands with kids in the justice system no matter what. We provide holistic legal defense to address children’s needs both inside and outside the courtroom. And we tackle the systemic issues that criminalize mostly poor, Black youth in the first place. Our goal is to keep kids out of a harmful system so that they can thrive where they belong: at home, at school, and in our communities.
We envision a Louisiana where every child, no matter their race or class, is free to be a kid and supported in becoming a healthy adult.
Through this event, we celebrate the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights’ successes and come together to make Louisiana a better place for all children.
FEBRUARY 2025: DC CENTRAL KITCHEN
DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) is an iconic nonprofit and social enterprise that combats hunger and poverty through job training and job creation. The organization provides hands-on culinary job training for individuals facing high barriers to employment while creating living wage jobs and bringing nutritious, dignified food where it is most needed. DCCK’s social ventures include serving scratch-cooked farm-to-school meals in DC schools, delivering fresh, affordable produce to corner stores in neighborhoods without supermarkets, and operating fast-casual cafes throughout the District of Columbia.
DC Central Kitchen’s mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities.
JANUARY 2025: HEADS-UP GUIDANCE SERVICES (HUGS)
Founded in 2009, Heads-Up Guidance Services (HUGS) is a non-profit organization making professional behavioral health counseling & addiction recovery services accessible to all motivated individuals who desire growth, independence, and emotionally healthy lifestyles. Andrea Mamalakis Epting, HUGS’ founder and Managing Director, understands the critical need to provide counseling for those who are under-insured or lacking the financial means to pay the high cost of services.
HUGS’ services are made possible by community donations and dedicated volunteers. HUGS’ counselors all volunteer their time and expertise to make counseling affordable. They are committed to providing exceptional services to the Chatham County’s under-served population without using taxpayer dollars (i.e. government-funded programs such as Medicaid) as a funding source. HUGS is bridging the gap in health services and filling a critical need – NOT at the expense of local taxpayers, but rather to the benefit of local employers and the Savannah community at large.
Our mission is to make exceptional behavioral health counseling accessible to all motivated individuals, and to train and utilize compassionate volunteer professionals to meet community counseling needs.