Fire claims home of French culture leader

The home of Mavis Fruge, recipient of Ordre des Palmes Academique and the 2013 Louisiana Culture Connection Louisiana Prix de la Franco-Responsabilite, lost her home of 39 years to fire on Tuesday.
This home, Fruge’s home, is where she fed, entertained and provided more than 400 francophone guests with an authentic French Louisiana experience and as recent as Sunday, hosted for a third-year Louisiana State University students participating in an ongoing French Immersion class. The now charred kitchen that served as the lab for food activities that included couche-couche, sweet dough pie and egg dying with natural plants – all en francaise.
Fruge, who heads the Jacques Arnaud French Studies Collective, the French component partner of NUNU Arts and Culture Collective, is a leading advocate for the creation of a French Immersion School and Cultural Business Incubator within the Town of Arnaudville.
She has for near 10 years hosted a monthly French Table that draws consistently 20-100 French speakers – native and tourists.
Fruge’s friends and the community of Arnaudville and her francophone community have already gathered to offer her assistance and her reply is: “If you wish to help me, support French language and cultural immersion efforts. If you feel a need to donate, than donate to the Semaine Francaise France-Louisiane Fund at Community Foundation of Acadiana.”
Still standing with the frame of the house is the covered porch, an often utilized performance area where just this Sunday, music and dance commenced through late afternoon.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.