Casting their net

MAMOU - It is a foggy Thursday morning on the northern edge of the Cajun Prairie as a group of volunteers, mainly from the local Knights of Columbus, sort through boxes of donated canned goods. In doing so, the volunteers are doing their part in the Food
for Families FoodNet outside St. Ann Church in Mamou.
With the pandemic, many other areas around Mamou, including Ville Platte, have decided to cancel their food drives. However, as KC Terrell Aymond explained, “The people still need to eat.”
Martin Fontenot, who is a leader of the volunteers with Aymond, said, “We decided we were going to have it because people normally like to come by and deliver canned goods and food. It was the decision we made with Fr. (Billy) Massie and the other members of the Knights of Columbus to just go ahead and do it while keeping our distance.”
Fontenot continued, “It really drives the point, we think, a little deeper than not having it at all. We are taking every precaution with social distancing and wearing masks. It gives more of a feeling for the people to come this year and say they’re helping.”
Fontenot is a native of the Pin Clair community and moved away to work in Baton Rouge and Texas. He retired in 2007 and moved back to the Mamou area.
“Thank God for that because my mother, Hazel Chretien, passed away a week-and-a-half ago. She was one week shy of being 95, so thank God I was able to move back during the last 13 years of her life.”
Several years after moving back home, Fontenot first started volunteering with the FoodNet and has been a leader with Aymond for about the past eight years.
Over that time, Fontenot and the other volunteers have seen the generosity of the people in the Mamou area. “Last year,” he said, “we collected close to 4,000 pounds of food and over $2,000.”
As of 10 a.m. on Thursday, the volunteers collected enough canned goods to fill a third of the food pantry along with several checks.
Jack Cormier is a volunteer with St. Ann and has been helping with the FoodNet for the past 15 years. He has been involved for so long because, as he said, “the community needs it.” He added, “We try to help whoever we can.”
Fellow volunteer and Knight of Columbus Greg Manuel said it feels good to know he’s helping the community. “Everything that we can do helps out,” he said. “It gives a lot of people some relief.”
As for Aymond, he concluded, “It makes me feel good because we like to help our people around here. I much rather help them with this way than giving them some money. This way they have something to eat.”
Also volunteering were Floyd Freeman and Charles Balfa.