Rotary meets the first lady

The state’s first lady, Donna Edwards, stopped by Tuesday’s meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club to talk about things happening in the state as well as issues that she and her husband, Governor John Bel Edwards, have worked on during his first term in office.
“As first lady of our great state, I’m grateful to be able to use my voice to spread the part about good things that are going on in Louisiana,” she said.
She continued, “In addition to sharing good news, I also get to travel the state to help bring awareness to issues that need attention and things that I’m passionate about.”
As a former teacher, the first lady commended her husband in prioritizing raises for teachers and support personnel as well as increasing funding for the classrooms during the upcoming regular legislative session.
“These issues are very near and dear to my heart,” Edwards said. “These are issues that directly affect our family members, our schools, and our communities. Everyone who has a hand in making the schools conducive to learning should be valued from the cafeteria staff to those who keep the classrooms clean.”
“The teacher pay raise will be the first in 10 years,” she continued, “and it is well deserved and long overdue to get teachers’ pay up to the average of the other southern states.”
As Edwards explained, another issue that she and the governor are passionate about is ending childhood hunger in the state.
“It’s really hard to believe in 2019 we have childhood hunger in Louisiana,” said Edwards. “It’s unbelievable.”
To help combat the problem, the Edwards began a No Kid Hungry Louisiana School Breakfast Challenge during their first year in Baton Rouge.
“To our delight, there has been a significant increase in the number of schools participating,” Edwards stated. “There are more than 350 schools, and, even better, an additional 154,000 meals were served in just one month.”
She continued, “It makes a big difference when our children eat breakfast. If there is an opportunity for them to eat when they get to school, it takes away so many challenges. Discipline problems are lower, and they do better on test scores.”
As Edwards continued outlining her platform as the state’s first lady, she touted the work of Louisiana Fosters. As she explained, “It is a statewide resource linking government, non-profit businesses, and faith based organizations to build a supportive network for our state’s foster children and their birth parents.”
“The goal,” she continued, “is to strengthen the family because two-thirds of foster children end up returning to their birth families or relatives.”
Through Louisiana Fosters, Edwards is also working on strengthening the bonds between foster children and the community.
She said, “Through the program, if every church in our state would recruit a family from within the church, then that family would go through the process of becoming a foster family. Then, they could adopt a child, and the church would wrap itself around that family and that child.”
A final peg in Edwards’ platform as first lady is bringing attention to human trafficking in the state.
“I’m working very hard to shine a light on this terrible crime,” she commented. “This is an issue we need to raise awareness of and educate everyone on because this is a modern day form of slavery. It’s a real problem in communities across Louisiana and this country. While we would like to think it doesn’t happen in our own backyards, it does.”
The first lady explained the progress that has been made in the state since her husband took office in “restoring victims lives for a brighter future and ensuring the perpetrators are punished for the evil they inflict on innocent boys and girls.”
One of the ways is the creation of Metanoia Manor which was constructed on state property in conjunction with Fr. Jeff Bayhi of St. John the Baptist Church in Zachary.
Edwards said of Metanoia Manor, “It’s the first of it’s kind in the country, and it’s a safe haven for girls who are rescued from traffickers.”
At the end of her program, Edwards quoted Scripture from Matthew 22:36-40: Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest. He said to them, “You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Edwards concluded, “After all, it’s up to us to leave our communities in a better place for the next generation. That’s what John Bel and I are so passionate about. We’re really trying to make a difference and leaving it better than we found it.”