VP Rotary Club welcomes recent guests

February 4, Meeting
Rotarian Rob Eastin welcomed Brad Farmer, executive director with the Acadiana Area Human Services District (AAHSD), to the February 4, meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club. Farmer stated AAHSD is a fairly new organization and is “owned” by the communities it serves. There are several locations throughout Acadiana, including one in Ville Platte, which is supervised by Nancy Bourque. Farmer stated the mission of the AAHSD is to enhance and support the lives of people who need assistance and make sure services are provided. He noted the group used to be under Region Four of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, however, they are now their own entity. The group works with citizens with developmental disabilities and is no longer managed by the state. The board is made up of 10 members representing the seven-parish service area. Each parish has one member and the remaining three are “members at large.” John Pitre of Ville Platte is the Evangeline Parish representative. Farmer said all of the members are knowledgeable in all areas and represent their parishes well. He stated the group has contracts with approximately 100 providers to provide service and support for their clients in many areas of behavioral health management, including assessment, case management, crisis intervention, medication management and psychological evaluations. In a brief overview, he stated the board was created in 2010, an executive director was hired in 2011 and on July 1, 2012, they took over operations from the state. The group received national accreditation in June 2013. He noted that in just under two years they developed their policies and procedures and implemented it and provided team training and structured the staff.
February 11, Meeting
Rotarian Dr. Willie Buller welcomed LSUE Chancellor Dr. William Nunez, along with Judy Daniels and Executive Director of the LSUE Foundation Madelaine Landry to the February 11, meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club for the annual campus update and presentation of the Ville Platte Rotary Club Scholarship donation.
Dr. Nunez gave an update on the school, noting many excellent students are produced and many pre-professional majors come out of LSUE with a strong background to continue on at LSU, McNeese ULL and other schools to complete their degrees. Nunez stated that despite rumors to the contrary, the school’s credits transfer well to the other schools. He stated Daniels oversees the scholarship program and she then thanked the Rotary Club for 30 years of support through its generous scholarship.
Nunez then gave an update on the school, noting the various sports teams always excel and produce several Academic All-American student athletes. He noted the new Lady Bengal basketball coach Yolanda Moore played in the WNBA and has produced the team’s best starting record to date, with a 15-1 start to this season.
He then gave a general breakdown of student population, noting that the average age is 23 and that 77 percent of the students are 25 and under. He said the student body is approximately 70 percent female and 30 percent male. He added that 53 of the state’s 64 parishes are represented, with the largest number of students coming from St. Landry (24.5 percent), Acadia (17.5 percent), Evangeline (12 percent) and Lafayette (10.3 percent) parishes.
Nunez, Landry and Daniels once again thanked the Ville Platte Rotary for their 30 years of partnership through their scholarship program and hope to continue on with the tradition for many more years. They then announced that the 2013-2014 scholarship recipients were Nicholas Ardoin (mathematics major), Sadie Buller (biological sciences major) and Spencer Fontenot (accounting major).