Perfect Ten

Balmy temperatures and thickening humidity failed to temper the hub of activities taking place at the Gardere Initiative’s summer camp at its headquarters on Ned Avenue in Baton Rouge. 

Some children played soccer in a nearby neighborhood park, others evaluated their paintings before making the next brushstroke and others spent time on the computer or browsed through books inside the headquarters’ building. 

While the children fed their minds, creative spirits and hopes and dreams, members of the Family Life Ministry at St. Jude Church in Baton Rouge delivered hundreds of lunches made by parishioners as part of its Brown Bag Project. This year marks the project’s 10th anniversary.

The initiative is a non-profit organization working to address substance abuse, crime, poverty and other social ills in the Gardere area that adversely affect the children, neighboring subdivisions and city through spiritual intervention, collaboration and partnerships. St. Jude Church is one of its sponsors. 

The Gardere Initiative was established by neighborhood church leaders in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, according to Dr. Murelle Harrison, executive director of the organization. Many people who were displaced from New Orleans found residence in Gardere, a majority African American community. There was also an influx of Latinos.

The organization provides assistance in education for children and adults, job and financial counseling and health and well-being.

Among the services the Gardere Initiative provides during holidays and the summer is a camp where children are immersed in enrichment activities including math, games requiring logic and reasoning, reading, music, art, sports and other recreational activities. This year’s camp also featured a visit from coaches of the Memphis Inner City Rugby Program.

Harrison beamed as she showed on her iPad a myriad of pictures she’s taken during the years of the faith communities’ participation.

“There are so many children. We get to develop relationships with them,” said Harrison.

St. Jude supports the various Gardere Initiative activities throughout the year. For the Brown Bag Project, families assemble the lunches, which includes a sandwich, fruit, something salty, a sweet and a bottle of water. Parishioners and families bring the lunches to the camp and even go out into the neighborhoods. St. Jude typically provides 200 lunches per day during one week of the summer camp.

“We’ve provided 15,000 meals throughout the years,” said Marie Johnson, current chair of the St. Jude Family Life Ministry.

She said the Brown Bag Project is part of St. Jude’s effort of “being aware of the community and their needs.”

“That’s what we’re called to do as Christians, to have it be part of our children’s culture,” said Johnson.

While packing lunches, she said her family has insightful conversations about where the children they are helping come from, the struggles they face and how they can be of assistance.

While distributing meals her children see the other children’s faces, how kind the people are and the importance of being part of people’s lives.

“That’s the best way to teach your kids,” said Johnson. “In the future, when they are teenagers or adults, they will have the desire to ‘go beyond’ and help others.”

Reginald Brown said the presence of spiritual communities in the Gardere community not only provides those they help with the necessities but also opens the eyes of the volunteers. Brown is the advisor, consultant and representative at Gardere Initiative and president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society Conference for St. Jude. 

“We look at those in poverty, and some of us have the opinion that they are not godly. That has saddened some (in need),” said Brown. 

But as he engages people in Gardere he finds they will be the first to bring up the topic of God and faith. He said the faith-based organization’s presence encourages them and helps them open up about their “deep down beliefs.”

“When we come in and help, they express their appreciation to us,” said Brown, who is also the local site coordinator for Jobs for Life. 

The national organization equips local churches to help unemployed men and women find work and experience a life filled with confidence, learning, coaching, self-esteem and faith.

In addition to the Brown Bag Project, St. Jude, among other things, collects school supplies and hosts a Halloween pumpkin carving contest for the children in the Gardere area.

Harrison said about St. Jude’s support, “It warms my heart just thinking about it.”

She noted the coming together of churches in an interfaith effort has brought positive results in the area and creates hope for its future.

“No one congregation can do it all, but each can do something,” said Harrison.

For more information on the Gardere Initiative, visit gardere initiative.org or facebook.com/GardereInitiative.