The responsibilities of the members of the St. John Parish Family and Consumer Scieces Advisory Leadership Council are to represent their peers, identify needs and issues, identify opportunities for collaboration, be active in sharing their skills and knowledge to help the parish and understand the LSU AgCenter/Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service as a community resource.
Members of the council are:
| Name |
Affiliation |
Program Area |
| Sheryl Banks |
Kingsley House |
FCS |
| Hon. Mary Becnel |
District Judge |
FCS |
| Biarnetta Bell |
PPSP |
FCS |
| Margaret Burlew |
Extension Agent |
FCS |
| Randy DeSoto |
St. John Library |
FCS |
| Ronnie Feist |
Juvenile Officer |
FCS |
| Greg Maurin |
St. John Sheriff Department |
FCS |
| Raffeal Neal |
Juvenile Officer |
FCS |
| Eloise Joseph |
St. John Parish Human Services |
FCS |
| Wanda Boudreaux |
Office of Family Development |
FCS |
| Anthony Smith |
YMCA |
FCS |
| Hon. Sterling Snowdy |
District Judge |
FCS |
| Rene' Schmit |
Extension Agent |
|
| Dean Torres |
St. John United Way |
FCS |
| Denise Cox |
FINS |
FCS |
| Samantha Wilson |
Juvenile Officer |
FCS |
| Hon. Madeline Jasmin |
District Judge |
FCS |
Minutes of the
St. John Parish FCS Advisory Leadership Committee Meeting
December 10, 2008
LaPlace, LA – St. John Parish Library
Members Present:
Biarnetta Bell, Randy DeSoto, Greg Maurin, Anthony Smith, Dean Torres, Margaret Burlew and Cynthia Clifton.
Mission
Margaret Burlew , Extension Agent from Terrebonne Parish and who has a partial assignment to St. John Parish, facilitated the meeting and explained that the LSU AgCenter is dedicated to innovative research and reliable information to improve people’s lives. She talked about the FCS focus areas of Family Development, Nutrition and Health and Family Resource Management.
LSU AgCenter Extension Educators: promote leadership and voluntarism, deliver and evaluate researched-based educational programs, train other professionals and paraprofessionals, and join forces with other agencies and organizations to help all Louisiana families thrive in a changing world.
Meeting
Margaret welcomed all present. Each member introduced him/herself, providing information on their work with the Parish and one thing about them self of personal interest.
Purpose
The purpose of the council is to provide direction for educational based programs in St. John Parish. As a grass roots organization, the LSU AgCenter bases its programming on the people and needs of the parish. Our goal is to focus on how we can accomplish positive results in the parish. Members were provided minutes from the 2007 meeting.
Identification of Issues facing parish
Out of 13 issues facing the parish, the committee identified 3 major issues of importance:
Respect for education
Parenting – Family activities
Financial Literacy
Members made the following comments:
Greg Maurin – works for the St. John Parish Sheriff’s office. His duties include working with civic groups and adolescent groups in St. John Parish. He works side-by-side with Wayne Jones, the sheriff of St. John Parish. Greg stated that his interest is exercise of all type, especially, running which gives him opportunity to travel the world.
Randy DeSoto – Director of St. John Parish Libraries. Randy explained the three branches and their locations of LaPlace, Reserve and Edgard. The library provides outreach to the homebound, children and adults in the parish. There is a van that also travels in the parish twice a month. Randy grew up on a diary farm in DeSoto Parish which is still in the family. Randy is interested in having the AgCenter present programs at the library. The River Parishes consist of St. John, St. James and St. Charles; however, St. James parish is not a big participator of programs held in the other parishes.
Anthony Smith – Youth service coordinator of New Orleans for St. John Parish. The YMCA reaches out to youths from age 12 – 18. The YMCA activity center is located at New Wine church in Laplace. They hold several programs such as the Leaders Club which focuses on the mind, body and spirit. The YMCA has a program on Trim Kids presented by Dr. Melinda S. Southern, Ph.D., M.Ed., C.E.P., who is a licensed clinical exercise physiologist and a research faculty member and director of the Pediatric Obesity Clinical Research Section at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. The center is open from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anthony invited the committee to attend their Christmas Social on December 18, 2008 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at their newest facility the Destrehan Youth Activity Center in Destrehan, LA. Anthony is interested in music and is a classical trained trumpet player. Talking to children at the center, he notices that they are interested in becoming football players and other sport players, but no interest in music. Anthony is a youth pastor at his church in New Orleans.
Dean Torres – Executive Director of United Way. Dean was born and raised in St. John Parish. Dean works very close with the 4-H program of the parish and United Way funds a lot of their programs. Dean's interest is hunting.
Cynthia Clifton – FCS Extension Agent replacing Cathy Holmes. She worked in St. John Parish for five and a half years at River Parishes Substance Abuse Clinic and worked in several prisons such as Angola, LCIW and Jetson before coming to the LSU AgCenter. Her main focus will be on Children in the Middle (Divorce) classes, Anger Management classes and Child Development classes. She is excited to be on board.
Biarnetta Bell – Program Assistant of Parents Preparing for Success. Biarnetta teaches parenting classes to mothers referred from the Office of Family Services (OFS). She also travels to Terrebonne, Lafourche and Assumption Parishes. Biarnetta recommended that the committee develop a pilot program in St. John Parish that focuses on the interest of the children and parents, encouraging positive programs and family outings.
Greg commented that, “The World is bigger than St. John Parish.”
Dean requested that the committee look into the shelter at Belle Pointe for a family activity. The shelter is a covered building. It was also suggested that maybe a petting zoo as a family outing. These suggestions will be followed and reported by the next FCS Advisory committee meeting.
An e-mail will be sent to the members that could not attend the meeting for any suggestions that they see as issues in St. John Parish.
Dates will be forwarded to committee members to schedule the next meeting.