Foundation to honor philanthropists, role models
St. Mary Parish Foundation will host its St. Mary Parish Leaders in Philanthropy and Role Models Awards Gala at 7 p.m. Friday at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City.
The foundation is an affiliate of Community Foundation of Acadiana and recognizes individuals and couples who have made significant contributions of their resources and time to help nonprofit organizations, churches and schools throughout St. Mary Parish, a news release said.
The event will include an awards ceremony, formal dinner and wine.
The 2018 St. Mary Parish Leaders in Philanthropy honorees are Alice and William Pecoraro of Morgan City. The 2018 St. Mary Parish Role Models being honored are Nancy Boudreaux, Mason Carbonell and Jonathan Scully, Mark Chauvin, Danika Foley, Lauren Hebert and Roye Pontiff.
Alice and William “Bill” Pecoraro have been active community members since establishing their home in the Tri-City area over 50 years ago. They have been committed to their church, schools, both private and public, universities and local charities. The St. Mary Community Foundation held its inaugural event at their home nearly 10 years ago. They participated in the initial fundraising to establish the affiliate and have attended every sponsored event since its inception.
Bill Pecoraro was active in the early years in the Knights of Columbus and in later years in the Boy Scouts and the Morgan City port commission and wharf committee. Alice Pecoraro served for many years on the board of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Keep Morgan City Beautiful and Keep St. Mary Beautiful. She was also a member of the historic commission and the image commission of Morgan City.
She served on the boards of the Community Foundation of Acadiana and St. Mary Community Foundation.
The couple is humbled and honored to join the past distinguished St. Mary philanthropists, all of whom they know and admire.
Nancy Boudreaux is a former business owner for over 20 years. Boudreaux created a Teen Board, an organization who helped focus on improving the self-esteem and health of teenaged girls.
Boudreaux hosted an annual fashion show to benefit the Girl Scouts of America, Special Education and many more organizations. Each Thanksgiving, the Teen Board would sponsor “Fill the Truck” food drive to benefit St. Mary Outreach.
She served on the Holy Cross School board for one year. Also, she was instrumental in starting the “Good Deeds Club” at Holy Cross Elementary. Members of the club would visit nursing homes and hospital patients. For the past 27 years, she donated Christmas baskets to the elderly in need.
Boudreaux is most known for creating “Ladies’ Night Out,” a fundraiser for breast cancer patients in which proceeds are donated to local women to help with expenses associated with breast cancer.
This event is held every other year and has been held for more than 20 years. Boudreaux is a current board member for St. Mary Outreach where she has organized the “Motivation for Life” event. Past guest speakers were former LSU basketball coach Dale Brown and baseball coach Skip Bertman.
The next Motivation for Life event will be held July 31 with guest speaker, current LSU basketball coach Will Wade. Boudreaux has organized the annual Tour of Homes fund raisers for St. Mary Outreach. She has been married to Peter Boudreaux for 36 years. They have two children, Zach and Ben.
Mark Chauvin is the owner and manager of Bayou Sale Cane Co. Inc., a sugarcane farming operation located in Centerville, which he began in 1990. He has been the president of the St. Mary Parish Farm Bureau for 20 years and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Louisiana Farm Bureau.
Chauvin is a member of the American Sugarcane League and enjoys participating in the Washington, D.C. fly-ins to meet and discuss matters with legislators that directly affect the sugarcane industry on a state and national level. He is a member of the Church of the Assumption and the Knights of Columbus. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, cooking and spending time with family and friends.
Jonathan Scully and Mason Carbonell opened Pelican Contractors of La LLC on April 4, 2016. Within a few months of operation, the Baton Rouge area flooded, and Pelican Contractors helped with rescuing efforts, donations and food for flood victims.
Pelican Contractors then participated in the Sheltered Home Program to help demolish and rebuild homes in the Baton Rouge area. Pelican Contractors also provided FEMA trained technicians for units used for safety purposes in temporary housing for displaced citizens.
Scully was then asked and honored to speak before legislators in Washington, D.C. on the disaster relief and recovery efforts needed in Louisiana after a catastrophic natural disaster. Pelican volunteered with sandbagging in Stephensville and contacted the town of Berwick when flooding was a risk.
Pelican Contractors has FEMA Certified RV inspectors and is providing disaster assistance in Virgin Islands. The company employs about 50 people. Pelican Contractors supports the Back the Blue initiatives in St. Mary Parish. They are members of numerous organizations such as Duck’s Unlimited, St. Mary Parish Delta Waterfowl Foundation, Gold Club of BHS and Rebuild SOS. Scully is a member of the krewes of Adonis, Hephaestus, Dionysus and Bridge St. Mary. Carbonell is a member of the Krewe of Hephaestus.
Danika Foley is the news director of KWBJ TV 22 where she hosts “The Voice of the Coast with Danika,” which serves nearly 45,000 homes and businesses in the area. She is an avid supporter of community-based activities, youth mentoring and advocate for the arts. She is also the founder of ibedamned-blog, a women’s empowerment blog, where she co-hosts the Facebook Live show, Carpool Conversations. Foley is also a graduate of Leadership St. Mary.
Lauren V. Hebert , certified public accountant and personal financial specialist, is a shareholder of Darnall, Sikes & Frederick, a corporation of CPAs, and financial advisor with DSF Wealth Management LLC.
She serves as vice-chairwoman of the Morgan City Main Street Board, treasurer of St. Mary One and a member of the Nicholls State University Accounting Advisory Board.
As chairwoman of the Main Street Board’s Design Committee, she spearheads Block 27 - the Lawrence Park Improvement Project. Within her office, she coordinates personnel as volunteers for the Morgan City Youth Center. She is also active as a member of Pharr Chapel United Methodist Church and with St. Mary Excel.
Roye Bell Pontiff is a teacher and coach at Hanson Memorial High School, her alma mater. She is a long-time resident of Franklin and has served as a teacher, coach, catechist, campus minister and director of the Touch service program at Hanson Memorial.
Pontiff has been an integral part of the sports programs at Hanson since 1980, coaching basketball, cross country, softball, track and even some football. She has spent countless summers as swim instructor and coach for the youth in the area. Pontiff continues to bring a faith-filled enthusiasm to the youth and adults in the area’s schools and community.