Our Mission = Our Name
We believe in a love that gives itself away, the kind that demonstrates itself through action. Our mission is our name – to love the children, families, widows, hurting and needy across Acadiana.
Love Acadiana seizes opportunities to provide help and hope in meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the underserved. We endeavor to connect the faith and business communities together to accomplish life-transforming work.
Our History
For Years...
Love Acadiana has served Lafayette, St. Landry, Vermillion, Iberia and St. Martin Parishes.
Our early activities began with back-to-school drives, after-school tutoring, teacher supply drives and appreciation baskets, neighborhood clean-ups, Thanksgiving and Christmas food and gift drives, plus a model initiative to engage the faith community in foster care.
In 2015 the tragic theater shooting then allowed us to serve a number of victims with much needed financial support and counseling
When the flood of 2016 occured,
we added disaster relief to our serving activities, as we partnered with Eight Days of Hope to muck out more than 400, then later rebuild 130 flooded homes in Acadiana.
We’ve had several opportunities to use our disaster relief skills, too, especially after Hurricanes Laura and Delta hit Southwest Louisiana in 2020.
Love Acadiana mobilized 3,000 volunteers
at eight schools in one day with the Love Our Schools initiative in 2019; strategically distributed 589,000 surgical masks in Spring of 2020 to combat COVID-19; and responded to the storms of 2020 by tarping roofs, cutting trees, mucking out homes and cleaning up yards, helping more than 400 individuals and families in the process.
In the first five weeks of 2021 alone, we organized two major events – a Saturday Serve Day with 100+ volunteers coming together in one day to complete over 20 improvement projects at a high school in Abbeville, and a large furniture distribution in Lake Charles, bringing together volunteers from 14 churches across SWLA to serve hurricane survivors.
We continue to focus our efforts and resources on the following ministry areas:
- Foster Care
- Prison Ministry
- Homeless Ministry
- Single Moms/Widows
- Education
- Disaster Response
Our Plans
Monthly Serving Events
Disaster Response Team Development
Faith-Based First Responders
To Our Donors and Volunteers
We’ve been able to accomplish so much because of you…
2022 Stats & Highlights
Strategic Partnerships
We are blessed to partner with Eight Days of Hope, a national disaster relief organization that exists to demonstrate the love and hope of Jesus Christ by serving those in need. Eight Days of Hope has helped us to muck out nearly 400 homes after the flood of 2016, revitalize eight Lafayette Parish public schools in 2019, and in 2020 they served with us in Southwest Louisiana to bring relief to those affected by Hurricanes Laura and Delta. EDOH’s expertise, compassion and nationwide volunteer network are invaluable to us when disaster strikes.
2016 Acadiana Flooding
Hurricane Laura 2020
Tarping, chainsawing, & debris removal
Hurricane Delta 2020
Returned one week after their deployment for Hurricane Laura ended.
Staff
Tara Baudoin
Tara helped to coordinate efforts of a national disaster relief organization in Lafayette after the flood of 2016, and served as project manager the inaugural year of Love Our Schools in 2019, before officially joining Love Acadiana as executive director in 2020, just in time to respond to the pandemic. She’s led women’s ministry and served with her husband, David, a counselor and pastor in Lafayette for 20+ years. She enjoys using her energy and influence to promote initiatives that better the community. Tara attended public and private schools in Lafayette and graduated cum laude from University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Public Relations and Marketing. She is passionate about serving the people of Acadiana.
Ashley Adams
Ashley worked with Love Acadiana after the flood of 2016, as a project manager for Love Our Schools in 2019, has been spearheading events at the Hope Center in St. Martinville, and shows up every time there is a need or an opportunity to serve. She loves Jesus well, which is evident in her compassion, dedication, and non-stop work ethic. Ashley has a heart for serving the underserved and she has roots in Acadiana – born and raised in Vermilion Parish, she has worked in the public school system, worshipped at churches in and served the communities of Lafayette, Broussard and St. Martinville. Her love for and connections all over Acadiana has proven to be a great asset to our team.
Angela Gagliano
Angela has helped to develop and coordinate outreach small groups and events at Our Savior’s Church-Lafayette Campus since 2014, first as a volunteer then full-time staff member. She also assisted with developing leaders, small groups and volunteer teams. After assisting with various community service projects during the unprecedented year of 2020, she transitioned from OSC to Love Acadiana in 2021. Angela has a passion to help anyone in need and leans on her paralegal background of 20+ years to work against general injustices and better the community. A native of Slidell, Angela has lived in Lafayette for more than 20 years, where she has raised her children, Haley (23) and Jacob (18), and she calls Acadiana home.
Scott Brantingham
Before joining L.A. full-time in the Fall, Scott maintained the buildings, grounds, and equipment at the OSC-Broussard campus, where he served as facilities manager. But it’s his heart for ministry that makes him a golden addition to our team. Not only will he help us to be good stewards of our growing equipment inventory, but he continues to develop thriving groups of servant-hearted leaders and volunteer teams who are eager to serve their community. We are blessed to have him.
Sarah Russo
Sarah started out as an intern here at Love Acadiana. She has now graduated from UL with a B.A. in Public Relations and we’re happy to have her on staff. Sarah makes great contributions to our team by, helping to create our newsletter, assisting with event planning, managing social media – and most of all, loving on people! She is from Lafayette and has been actively serving her community through church and Kappa Delta for years, and continues to make an impact here with Love Acadiana.