Ms. Cole, who has been director of the local feeding program for the past 21 years was named the 2010 Caritas Award recipient. She began her ministry at the program, which itself started as Interfaith Ministry to feed the hungry in Lake Charles, as a volunteer. The program began more than 25 years ago and fed about 100 people per day. Today, under Cole’s leadership over 250 individuals are fed each day of the week, based on only one thing – they want a meal.
She had seen the need to help from her home parish of Immaculate Heart of Mary when she saw people who came seeking to be fed and that was the impetus for her volunteering at the program.
Father Wayne LeBleu, Secretary for the Ministry of Pastoral Services, introduced Mrs. Cole and shared with the group his first encounters with her 15 years ago as he was serving his deacon internship. “She showed me the ropes and she showed me how not to be afraid to care for the needs of others,” Father LeBleu said. “She has said that she feels her greatest accomplishment is that she is ‘happy to be a servant’ and that she ‘knew years ago that this was a calling from God – to serve the needs of the poor.’”
In accepting the award, Mrs. Cole said, “I simply want to say thank you to all of you because you have made my job possible. I look around the room and see many donors who have helped keep Abraham’s Tent afloat. I can’t do my job without you. On behalf of Abraham’s Tent, the board of directors and all those that I serve, I say thank you.
Mrs. Gay, who has held numerous positions in the Diocese of Lake Charles since its inception in 1980, was the 2010 recipient of the St. Peter Claver Award, which honors service to the least among us. Mrs. Gay will retire from her current position on June 30, though she will not be retiring from service to those who are in need.
For many years she was the Director of Religious Education for the Diocese, a position that encompassed many different roles including Youth Ministry, the Loyola Institute for Ministry, Holy Cross College, the Ulster Project, the Catholic Leadership Institute and many others. She has served on many boards and committees on both the local and state level, including Calcasieu Long Term Recovery and the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops Life and Justice Committee.
“Her influence has been felt throughout the diocese for many years,” said Mrs. Trish Trejo, Director of Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana. “Every where I go when people find out I work for the Diocese of Lake Charles, they say ‘you know Sandy Gay’. It seems everyone knows Sandy.
“With Sandy, it’s people and the relationships between people that is most important,” Trejo continued. “She is naturally the mentor, naturally the intervener. She wants to get in there and find out what’s going on, pulling people together, teaching and trying to make relationships work.”
In her “State of Catholic Charities” presentation, Mrs. Trejo said, “We are here to help the people who have trouble helping themselves. That is what Catholic Charities is all about, we are providing help and creating hope for the people of Southwest Louisiana.
“There is a crisis that is here every day and it doesn’t come with hurricanes, oil spills or explosions. It comes very quietly and almost without notice, unless you are looking for it,” she continued. “That is the crisis of poverty and the people who are poor don’t always get our attention. Sometimes we have to try really hard to see who they are.”
In the first quarter of 2010, Catholic Charities helped 64 clients with almost $12,000 in utility bills, 37 clients with almost $11,000 in rent and mortgage bills and over 1,100 people with food. “We helped 14 clients with just over $1,400 in prescription medication assistance,” Trejo said. “As you can see the need is great.
“A wonderful thing this year thus far is that we are up in contributions from generous donors from where we expected to be,” she said. “We are only limited by time – how many people we can see in a given period of time.”
Some of the churches have been generous as well while the Emergency Food and Shelter program has provided a little over $40,000 to spend on utilities, rent and mortgage while the organization has access to a Community Block Grant from the City of Lake Charles to prevent homelessness.
Catholic Charities can also help provide funeral assistance, employment expenses and identification expense assistance, disaster preparedness and response and immigration services.
