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HOUMA (AP) — Lawrence DeHart took a new job about four months ago, one he alternately describes as “head janitor” and “professional beggar.”
His actual title is president of the Terrebonne Churches United Good Samaritan Food Bank, one that DeHart has held for two years now, but one that just recently became his full-time gig.
DeHart left his previous job as a drone specialist to help feed those in need in Terrebonne Parish for roughly one-third of what he made before.
“I prayed a lot about it,” he said. “I knew what the food bank could afford to pay me, and I told the board, ‘This is the minimum I would need on a monthly basis just to pay my bills with just a little cushion,’ and that’s what it is right now.”
And so his career of professional begging began.
“We are very, very good at handing out food, but we are lousy at raising money,” DeHart said. “Over the last five or six years, we’ve had situations where we were deficit spending. We looked at the numbers in August or September and said, we have to do something.
“This organization was not going to die on my watch.”
With a total annual budget of around $100,000, the food bank feeds what DeHart said is about 8 percent of Terrebonne Parish’s residents. With the economy as it is, he said that upward of 10,000 people will come to the food bank this year.
Bringing on a full-time president is seen as a permanent solution, but one that DeHart hopes to leave behind eventually to go back to his previous career. His immediate mandate is to bring the organization’s fundraising capability to the point where the food bank can once again be self-sustaining.
“My primary goal is to re-do the internal structure of the food bank,” he said. “We were never designed to handle 9,000-10,000 people, and we are. So I’ll be doing this for at least a while.”
The food bank relies entirely on donations, both of food and money, to do its job. DeHart said the donations at this point are a ratio of 80 percent food and 20 percent cash, and he hopes to get that closer to 60-40.
But his professional begging does not stop there. The food bank is also in critical need of volunteers, both for its distribution efforts and at other times during the week.
The food bank at 254 Magnolia St. in Houma distributes food on Mondays and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. until noon and on Wednesdays from 12:30-4 p.m., but there are other opportunities to volunteer on non-distribution days.
DeHart said the best way to get started is to just show up when you can.
“Every session, we need about nine or 10 people to handle the load. Twelve is ideal,” DeHart said. “I’ve been there for sessions when we’ve had seven people, but I have to be very careful, because if we overload our volunteers, they burn out and they don’t come back.”
DeHart said that those who volunteer get more out of the experience than they put in.
“If you want to do something that will forever change your life, come,” he said. “How many things can you do in this world where you know that you make a difference? God asks us to help our brothers with love, and what better way to help your brothers than to feed those in need?”

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. shoppers are still paying more for organic food, but the price premium is falling as organic options multiply.
Last year, organic food and beverages cost an average of 24 cents more per unit than conventional food, or about 7.5 percent more, according to Nielsen. That was down from a 27 cent, or 9 percent, premium in 2014.
There’s a lot of variation within those numbers. The average price for a gallon of organic milk — $4.76 — is 88 percent higher than the $2.53 shoppers pay for a gallon of regular milk. Organic eggs have an 86 percent premium. At $4.89 per loaf, organic bread is double the cost of regular bread.
Parents buying organic baby food, on the other hand, pay just 3 percent more than they would for conventional baby food. In mid-January, a bunch of organic kale was 5 percent more than organic kale, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some organic products — like artichokes, soy milk and Granny Smith apples — may even cost less than their conventional counterparts.
There are many shifting factors behind the prices for organic foods. Premiums for milk and eggs tend to be much higher, for example, because the government has very specific rules for what “organic” means. For example, cows producing organic milk must be allowed to graze for at least one-third of their food intake, says Jeremy Moghtader, the manager of the campus farm at the University of Michigan.
The rules “have real benefits to the animal, the consumer and environment, but they do increase the price of production,” Moghtader said.
Organic and conventional vegetables are grown in similar ways, so the price difference tends to be lower. Organic farmers can save money by not using pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, but they may have to pay more for workers to pull weeds or control bugs, Moghtader said.
One reason organic premiums are falling is the increase in products on the shelves. Organics used to be confined to health food stores and high-end groceries like Whole Foods, but mainstream stores are increasingly offering them. Kroger, one of the nation’s largest grocery chains, says it stocks 9,000 organic items in its stores and notched $1 billion in organic produce sales in 2017.
On a recent weekday, Kroger was selling Simple Truth organic orange juice — its in-house brand — for $3.49 for 52 fluid ounces. That was $1 more than the same size of conventional Kroger-brand orange juice, or 49 cents more than conventional Tropicana-brand orange juice.
Costco’s Kirkland Signature store brand introduced organic eggs in 2007 and organic beef in 2012. Walmart’s Great Value store brand sells a 15-ounce can of organic pumpkin for $1.88; that’s just 10 cents more than conventional Libby’s brand canned pumpkin.
Consumer demand also impacts prices. Right now, demand for organics is outpacing supply in many categories. U.S. sales of fast-moving consumer goods — a category that includes food, beverages and toiletries — were flat last year, but sales of organic goods jumped 9 percent, Nielsen said.
Millennial households are leading that charge, as they stock up on organic milk and baby food for their children. But other generations are also buying more organic products. Overall, 88 percent of American households have bought organic food or beverages.
“Consumers are more focused on products that have some benefit to them,” Sarah Schmansky, a vice president of growth and strategy at Nielsen.
In some cases, organics are breathing life back into dusty grocery aisles. Sales of conventional lunchmeat and cheese at the deli counter had been weakening, since consumers didn’t want to wait for them to be sliced. But buyers seeking fresh, organic options are returning to the deli. Sale of organic deli lunchmeat have risen an average of 18 percent annually over the last four years, while organic deli cheese sales are up 26 percent.
Schmansky said food scares — like E. coli outbreaks traced to lettuce — are also leading some consumers to organic labels because they trust them.
While price premiums may continue to drop, it’s difficult to say if they’ll ever go away entirely, says Ryan Koory, a senior economist at Mercaris, a data firm that tracks organic agriculture.
Looser government policies and crop insurance programs better tailored to small organic farms could help lower those premiums, Koory said.
A recession could also lower consumer demand for organics, and therefore their price premiums. But if the last recession is any guide, those premiums could bounce back quickly.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Wednesday his plans to designate more than $350 million in coastal dollars, including $55 million from fiscal year 2018 surplus dollars to Louisiana’s coastal trust fund.

Included in those coastal dollars is $75 million from the federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act to complete the design and construct the Bayou Chene flood control/storm surge flood gate located in St. Mary Parish, and while located in St. Mary Parish, this structure will help protect parts of St. Mary, Assumption, Terrebonne, Iberville, Lafourche and Iberia parishes.

St. Mary Levee District officials are still looking for another $5 million in funds for the Bayou Chene project, Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said.

"This was a culmination of a multi-year effort since I've been on the natural resources committee and transportation (committee), which has finally borne fruit with actually allocated dollars, and will fully protect Morgan City, east St. Mary and lower St. Martin from backwater (flooding," said state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin.

Jones also thanked Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, for being "a great partner" working on the project for years.

Edwards highlighted nearly $300 million allocated to hurricane protection projects across the next three fiscal years, 2020 through 2022, that utilize enhanced Gulf of Mexico Energy Security revenues coming to the state, a governor’s news release said.

“In the next 12 months alone, over $120 million in GOMESA revenues will be expended to help protect over 2 million Louisianans who live and work along our coast,” Edwards said in the release.

“These investments represent a proactive mindset by the State of Louisiana and CPRA, allowing us to better defend against a hurricane or natural disaster and showing the citizens of our state we cannot and will not wait on someone else to provide us the protection we deserve,” he said.

Edwards also announced Chip Kline as the new executive assistant for coastal activities and board chair of the Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority.

Matte said Kline’s appointment as board chair and executive assistant for coastal activities bodes well for the St. Mary Levee District. Kline has been associated with CPRA for both the 2011 and 2016 temporary closures of Bayou Chene, along with the entire time officials have been working on the permanent structure project, Matte said.

Kline said, “I recognize and appreciate the opportunity the governor has given me, and I also recognize the incredible responsibility that comes with this job. The protection and restoration of Louisiana’s coast is an effort for the ages, and its undertaking is bigger than all of us, yet it affects each and every person living in this state. I look forward to continuing my work on behalf of and with the people of Louisiana, and I remain committed to leaving a coast that our children and grandchildren can cherish as much as we all do.”

Submitted Photo
On Saturday the Bayou Old Time Engine and Power Association got together at Audie’s Air Conditioning Inc. on Sandra Street to start the reassembly of the 1922 American LaFrance fire engine. It belongs to the city of Morgan City and is the second motorized fire truck that the city owned. Twelve members showed up to help, along with Assistant Fire Chief John Price and Chief Alvin Cockerham. Audie Taquino of Audie's Air Conditioning said that after a couple of more work days, the engine "should be ready to grace the streets of Morgan City."