"Paying it forward" club minds Eunice Manor, challenges others

Doing good things for the community shouldn’t be a challenge. But then again, it is.
Local high school students and businesses are challenging others to follow their example.
Eunice High School students and organizers braved frigid and rainy weather last week to “pay it forward”.
Dozens of student volunteers met at Eunice Manor to prepare a pre-Thanksgiving dinner of gumbo and potato salad for the elderly residents on Tuesday.
Organizers said that Eunice High School is incorporating a different form of senior projects from what was required in the past.
This senior project emphasizes community service and outreach.
Eunice High’s Pay It Forward Club, softball and baseball team members cooked a chicken and sausage gumbo for residents of Eunice Manor on Tuesday as part of the program.
Therese Gianfala, Eunice High Science teacher and club sponsor, said that she was proud of the student volunteers who showed up at the nursing home during their Thanksgiving vacation from school.
“We want to do good community projects wants and month and get the students to teach the children to come outside of their comfort zone,” said Gianfala. “We want them to help make somebody’s day a little bit brighter by doing the things that we do. It’s a group that we wanted to start, and members are not mandated to come. We didn’t want to mandate ‘being nice’. The students do not get extra credit. All of these children come on their own accord because they want to do nice things for their community.”
She said that all of the items for the gumbo cooked were donated by Walmart– which donated a $100 gift card– and Mel’s Grocery on Highway 13– which donated all of the food in order to have another business “pay it forward” for the next holiday function.
“Before the student left for the holiday break, I reminded them that we, as a country, got together with people who were different than ourselves,” said Gianfala. “And we all celebrated the act of being thankful for what you have in your life. Some people forgot sometimes and a small act of kindness can remind people that there is good in the world. And it could make their day brighter and they might pass it on to somebody else.”
The students prepared and cooked a gumbo, spent time with the residents playing Cajun music and cards with them.
They served the gumbo later that afternoon as dozens of students took time out of their holiday break to remind the folks at Eunice Manor that Thanksgiving was about sharing.
Heidi Pitre, 16, a junior student at EHS, said that she enjoyed “paying it forward”.
“I like to help out the elderly because sometimes they don’t have anyone else over the holidays,” said Pitre. “When you come to visit them, it makes them happy because they don’t see many people.”
Pitre said that visiting Eunice Manor brings back memories of her grandfather– who was a former resident of the nursing home. She thought about him on Tuesday.
“I think about him a lot when I come here,” said Pitre. “I feel like he would love to see me doing this and see me helping the other elderly...it would just make him happy to see me making other people happy.”
Another student talked about why he was volunteering to brighten the spirits of he residents of Eunice Manor.
“I here today just to do a good deed for the people,” said Wesley Guillory, 17, a junior at Eunice High School. “It feels great. It feels like I’m helping out in the community.”
Eunice High’s Pay It Forward Club organizers said that the group already has their sites set on the coming Christmas holiday– which may find them dressing as elves, or Santa’s little helpers, spreading joy to the local Faith House and the world around them.