Zip Code: 70501

United Way of Acadiana

United Way fights for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in every community.

We are more than the fundraisers. We are the hand raisers. The game changers.

We surround a community’s most critical problems and we fight. In order to live better, we must LIVE UNITED.

United Way envisions a world where all individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income stability, and healthy lives.

We focus on Earnings with programs from free tax-prep to financial savings education and coaching. We focus on Essentials by responding to crises from hurricanes to floods by providing basic needs and partnering with local organizations that reach the community in need. We focus on Education with goals that aim to see at least 90 percent of students graduate high school on time and United Way Readers who make a difference in early-grade literacy.

We win by LIVING UNITED. By forging unlikely partnerships. By finding new solutions to old problems. By mobilizing the best resources. And by inspiring individuals to join the fight against their community’s most daunting social crises.

SMILE Community Action Agency Homeless Shelter

What is SMILE?
GET TO KNOW US BETTER

Many people don’t realize that the word “SMILE” stands for the three parishes – St. Martin, Iberia and Lafayette – that the Community Action Agency serves in south central Louisiana. The “E” is added to make the acronym that has served as a symbol of hope to those in need.

 

The St. Martin, Iberia, Lafayette Community Action Agency – or SMILE Community Action Agency – or just SMILE – is part of a legacy that dates back to the 1960s. That’s when President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs were enacted, resulting in the creation of community action agencies nationwide.

 

The Agency’s community action motto, “People Helping People,” rings across the land, just like it does here in the heart of a region known internationally for its rich culture and traditions. While its spicy cuisine and zydeco music are popular ingredients that draw in tourists, the tri-parish region has had its woes of economic hardships and socioeconomic ills. And yet, SMILE remains the tri-parish’s leading anti-poverty agency – dedicated to making a difference – dedicated to making people “smile” in St. Martin, Iberia and Lafayette Parishes.

 

An Equal Opportunity Employer/Program
Auxiliary Aids and Services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.

St. Marguerite Home for Pregnant Women

Our home welcomes homeless pregnant women.  In some situations we will allow women with small children.  Each individual situation is unique.

We provide each resident with a peaceful, secure setting while helping to process her needs, her emotions, her choices.

We offer spiritual guidance, and women of all faiths are welcome.

We provide her with a place for reflection and re-direction, and each resident looks to the future with renewed hope.

We rely on the donations of individuals, families, churches, and organizations

$70 houses a single pregnant mother and provides much more than food, clothing, and shelter.  It also provides counseling, educational classes, parenting skills, vocational training, health care information, budgeting assistance, and more, all in an affirming Christian environment.

$35 provides formula, diapers, baby wipes, and other essentials to keep a d’Youville-Home baby healthy and happy for one week.

Average length of stay is six months.

You can be a Room Sponsor.  With a $5000 donation, your family’s name will be enshrined on a plaque in the home.

Thank you for any support you can give as we offer our services to help those women that Our Lord sends to our doors.

Please check our Volunteering page for other areas you can help.

After 10 years of helping women and saving babies, the DesOrmeaux Foundation, Inc.  opened the doors to a new project that started as a dream and in 2009 became a reality. Re-modeling began on the St. Marguerite d’Youville Home in January of 2009 to turn what was once a private residence into a home for homeless, pregnant women.  On September 7 of the same year, the doors opened to our fully-licensed home and is capable of housing up to six pregnant women.

Services Provided Include:

  • Spiritual Guidance
  • GED Prep Classes
  • Tutoring; Computer skills
  • Career Development
  • Character Building
  • Parenting Program
  • Abstinence Education
  • STD Education
  • Social Skills
  • Nutrition
  • Budgeting
  • Job opportunities
  • Faith Building

“We help them to understand they can reach their dreams and give their baby life too!”

In the Love of Life,
Brenda DesOrmeaux, President
The DesOrmeaux  Foundation, Inc.
Lafayette, Louisiana

St. Joseph’s Shelter for Men

St. Joseph Shelter for Men provides emergency shelter for up to 32 homeless men in a dormitory setting per night. Residents participate in case management where they are assisted with obtaining employment, applying for mainstream benefits and obtaining permanent housing.