Three generations of women from Ville Platte featured on FACE Magazine

Three generations of women who grew up in Ville Platte were on the cover of FACE Magazine, published in Lafayette, that contained a story about their philanthropic work.
Jane Bulliard of St. Martinville, her daughter Suzy Lemoine of Ville Platte, and her daughter, Kate Lemoine, who recently moved back to Ville Platte, were featured in the November issue of the magazine.
The article notes that Jane and her daughter Suzy received the 2013 Leaders in Philanthropy Award by the Community Foundation of Acadiana during a ceremony at the Cajundome Convention Center November 15.
The magazine article included photos of the three at the Acadian Memorial and Museum in St. Martinville, which Jane co-founded. Suzy’s award was based on her philanthropic achievements in Evangeline Parsih.
The article describes how Jane and Suzy worked for six years to prepare for the Evangeline Parish centennial celebration in 2011 and Suzy’s efforts to bring the bronze statue of Evangeline here, which was unveiled at the parish courthouse during the centennial event.
The article also describes the efforts of Suzy’s daughter Kate to promote cultural and charitable concerns in Lafayette Parish.
Suzy, in an interview December 2, said the philanthropic work that runs in her family is in part recognition of the leadership roles their family played in the early history of the parish. She said her mother involved her in charitable activities from an early age, just as Suzy has done with her daughter Kate.
One of the outcomes of their philanthropy is to explore and promote the cultural and historic traditions of Acadiana.
But she said she has refined her definition of philanthropy to involve “creating opportunities for the people in our communities,” adding, “I think philanthropy needs to be redefined.”
One of her conclusions is that philanthropy is not all about money, but it’s about giving back to the community -- even if it’s just giving of one’s time.
And she said such a definition already exists. She printed out a definition of philanthropy from Bing Dictionary that states, “desire to benefit humanity: a desire to improve the material, social and spiritual welfare of humanity.” The definition also includes, “love for all humanity: general love for, or benevolence toward, the whole of mankind,” and lists, as synonyms: charity, compassion, patronage, humanity, generosity and benevolence.
Although she has contributed money to charitable concerns, she said if she calculated the value of the time she has spent on philanthropic efforts, it would amount to a larger value.