Giving Back to our Community

40 & 8 Voiture 137 on Cross Lake

Today is one of those glorious days in the South when you're just glad to be alive: clear blue skies, sunshine, low humidity, nothing but promise in the day!

Actually, there's a baseball game scheduled in my day, and what's better than sitting outside watching a college baseball game?

Yesterday we attended the annual Confederate History month memorial service in Keachi hosted by the local SCV chapter and it could not have been a more beautiful day.  The cemetery is in the piney woods around Keachi and, after several years of hard restoration work and true dedication by the Lt. General Richard Taylor Camp #1308, the cemetery is now immaculate and well tended.  The work they have done to care for this resting spot of over 100 Confederate dead is remarkable. Preservation of history is important.

Keachi Confederate Cemetery

The ceremony yesterday was well attended and it was a nice afternoon of fellowship with friends and taking time to remember people who sacrificed so much.

We also attended the 40 & 8 Voiture 137 Nursing Scholarship Banquet fundraiser last night on Cross Lake.  Again, a beautifully attended event with really great people, much love, much fellowship.  Their site is located on a beautiful cove on Cross Lake studded with cypress trees and it was really nice to just sit outside and watch the breeze ruffling the trees or hear a fish rolling over in the water. We dined on grilled steaks and listened to some nice music, talked to friends, laughed, and felt very grateful for the dedication the 40 & 8 shows to helping nursing students complete their education through these scholarships.  Such a great cause!

The Shoemakes won dinner at Ernest's as a door prize.

On the way home we decided to pull into Shehee stadium and catch the last inning of the Centenary baseball game...except the game went on through thirteen innings!  Even though Centenary lost the game, it was nice sitting in the cool evening air taking part in the All American rite of passage that is baseball.  There's no more beautiful game in my mind.  I love it.

Centenary College v. Trinity, 2018

We truly live in a wonderful community here and while I realize Shreveport has plenty of problems that we need to take care of, we also have a lot of good. I think sometimes we spend a lot of time focusing on the negative - I've certainly been guilty of that - but I also think it's very important for us both mentally and emotionally, to focus on the positive as well.

As we get ready for Give for Good 2018 this week (Tuesday, May 1), I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions if you're looking to make our community a little better through a donation to a non-profit.

One of my favorite charities is Nova's Heart.  This group is fully funded by donations.  They do community outreach to help the animals of our most vulnerable citizens: the homeless.  Through their outreach program, Nova's Heart provides food, basic medications, leashes, collars, blankets, toys, and medical services for these animals. A homeless person may only have his pet left and being able to care for this pet, and to keep him with you, is of such importance.  What Nova's Heart does in our community is so often overlooked and underestimated.  Please consider them when you make a donation this year.

There are so many great non-profits in our area that I could list for days: all the animal rescue groups are there, many of our local museums like the Shreveport Water Works Museum and the Spring Street Museum, all can use donations.  The Shreveport Little Theater is also a non-profit that is a good steward of your donations.  You can just go to the Give for Good page and search for your non-profit, or just type in Shreveport, and see who comes up!

Whether you're able to donate back to our community or not, take a moment to get outside, take advantage of this great weather, talk to your neighbors, visit one of our local museums, the riverfront, a small business, or just take a walk.  We really do have a great community if we take the time to appreciate it.  Sometimes it's the little things.

Two Excellent Choices for End of Year Donations

Credit: Advertising Media Plus

It is almost time to turn the calendar to a new year and so typically we tend to reflect over the previous twelve months and assess what kind of year we had and perhaps set goals for the next twelve months.

I feel like I came out of 2017 fairly unscathed.  That's not to say it was a great year - there were some great moments and some really bad ones, but isn't that the same for us all?  It appears I'm going to make it to 2018 alive and that's what counts.

And 2018 looks to be pretty exciting for me.  I don't want to jinx anything or count chickens before they hatch, but there are some exciting things coming up.

But rather than post a dull retrospective of my year (because really, who cares?), I just want to leave a couple of things here:

If you need to make some end-of-the-year donations to non-profits there are at least two that are near and dear to me:

Nova's Heart is a local non-profit that helps the pets of the local homeless population.  I've written about the excellent work they do here:

It's a statistical fact that many people that are homeless refuse to give up their pets and will feed their pets before they feed themselves. Their pets don't judge them and offer unconditional love and support. Sometimes those pets also offer protection. Living on the streets disrupts whatever your normal life was and caring for a pet lets them retain some sense of control, routine, and normalcy. Nova's Heart recognized all of that and stepped

up to help. Nobody else in the area is doing this service for the homeless or those in crisis. Nobody else in this area is doing what Nova's Heart does. 

As more and more of the homeless pet owners heard about the help Nova's Heart offered, it soon became clear that this organization was growing faster than Loraine and her friends realized; they needed a bigger space and they needed some help. They applied for and received their 501c3 charter in February 2015, about a year and a half ago. Shortly after their application was approved, Nova's Heart was invited by HOPE Connections to partner with them as HOPE worked with the homeless population to provide a one-stop access point to a variety of services for them.

They are not a rescue and they don't take in animals; their goal is to keep the animals of our homeless population fed, vaccinated, and up to date on the most basic veterinary services.  The goal is to keep the animal with the owner.  It's such a noble mission.

Nova's Heart has a Facebook page here, and an Amazon Wish List here.  If you would rather mail a check, send it to Nova's Heart, 2350 Levy St., Shreveport, LA  71103.  They need donations of dog food, ziploc bags, blankets, leashes, collars, harnesses, and cash is always good for the veterinary needs.

Another non-profit that is important to me right now is the Shreveport Chapter #237 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy for their non-profit and charitable work as well as their Legal Defense Fund established to fight to keep the Confederate monument in downtown Shreveport.  The monument is in danger of being moved (and irreparably damaged in the process) which would be a tragedy if for no other reason than for the artistic beauty of that statue.

I've written extensively about the monument here.

The UDC also does a great deal of charitable work in our city by donations to the food pantry, projects that benefit our local veterans, and through donation of Christmas gifts to children in foster care.  They also make charitable donations to museums, which are poorly funded these days, and to scholarship funds.

The Shreveport UDC Facebook page is here; if you'd rather mail a check, the address is: Shreveport Chapter #273 UDC, P. O. Box 52083, Shreveport, LA, 71135-2083.  Their website is here.  If you want your donation to go specifically to the legal defense fund, please note that on your check.  You will receive a receipt or letter in return that you may use for your tax purposes.

As the new year approaches, I'm less inclined to look back but instead choose to look forward.  If I have any goals for 2018 it is to be a nicer and more charitable person doing good wherever I can.  None of us are perfect, but sometimes we are all a little too judgmental, opinionated, materialistic, and self-absorbed.  I am as guilty as anyone.

In 2018 I will do better.

Have a safe and happy New Year celebration from SIGIS!  I will be wrapped up in blankets with a good book, a nice beer, and staying off the streets.