Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana has received a $20,000 donation from the 2023-24 Washington-Marion High School LEAD Council to help support the new food pantry located at its headquarters.

A ribbon-cutting for the food pantry was held on Monday with members of the LEAD Council giving a presentation on their project.

The LEAD (leadership, enrichment and development) Council is a partnership-based initiative instituted at Sulphur High School in 2017 by Tellurian to cultivate future leaders. In 2019, the initiative expanded to WMHS.

Each year, students are appointed to the council following an intense application and interview process. They are given a $20,000 grant and one rule, “Do good in your community.” They meet with local elected officials, non-profit organizations and business leaders to identify community needs. After determining these needs, the council develops and executes projects to mitigate them.

Council member De’Asia Batiste said she was interested in the initiative because she wanted to make a tangible difference.

“I was interested in LEAD because I felt as a teenager we are not often listened to, but I learned through this program that by being a leader, even as a teenager, I have a voice and can make an impact in the community,” she said.

After the group of 13 students met with BBBS-SWLA CEO Erin Davison, they realized the organization was a perfect fit.

“When we learned that Big Brothers Big Sisters programs have been proven to help children realize their potential and build their futures, we wanted to be a part of that,” Batiste said.

While BBBS-SWLA offers a variety of programing, the WMHS LEAD Council supported the BBBS MentorU Program, a curriculum-based mentoring group that works with children ages 12 to 16 in Calcasieu Parish who are at risk of dropping out of school.

Alongside Tellurian LEAD Coordinator Terri Bachand and WMHS Faculty Advisor Corry Allen, the council developed and led monthly dialogues for the MentorU program. Topics that were discussed include Black History Month and peer pressure.

The council also created the on-site pantry for BBBS-SWLA that will benefit MentorU students and BBBS Littles alike. The pantry will be stocked with food and hygiene items. To help support the pantry, as well as the MentorU Summer Camp program, they donated their $20,000 grant from Tellurian to the organization.

Heather Hohensee, director of government and public affairs for Tellurian, said they are impressed by WMHS council members year after year.

“The council members continue to amaze us by selecting truly worthy challenges to face and developing programs and partnerships that are making lasting differences in their community. Southwest Louisiana has some very bright leaders emerging for its future.”

Davison told the American Press that BBBS-SWLA will operate the pantry for as long as it is sustainable, especially since this is a long-term goal she has had for the organization.

“Both Tellurian and the Washington-Marion LEAD Council fulfilled a wish list item of mine, to have a food and necessities closet. My Littles and families will continue to thrive because of a simple gift of food, shampoo or water.”

The pantry will be a critical resource during the summer camp. Davis said more than 85 percent of the students who attend are from asset-limited income-constrained employed (ALICE) families.

“Most of the youth are from families working, earning wages, but are just above the federal poverty line and make too much annually to qualify for public assistance programs.”

The MentorU Big Futures Summer Academy is a five-day mini-academy centered around the “four E’s” — education, employment, enlistment and entrepreneurship. Students participate in activities about career pathways, financial literacy, positive relationships and physical fitness, to name a few.

“I was in a restaurant with my wife when I found out,” PJ Washington tells me. “We were just happy and screaming.” This is surely not the typical NBA player’s recounting of the moment he finds out he’s been traded. But the Dallas Mavericks forward isn’t on the typical NBA player’s trajectory. Five years after he was drafted in the first round by the longtime cellar-dwelling Charlotte Hornets, Washington got a call at the trade deadline in February that was life-changing: he was headed home to Texas.

We sat down with Washington ahead of the Mavericks’ opening game against the red-hot Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night in the Western Conference finals, a best-of-seven-games battle for a place in the NBA’s championship round. The 25-year-old Washington is actually a Dallas native, who says he grew up going to Mavericks games as a kid “all the time” and watching present-day coach Jason Kidd run the point alongside Dirk Nowitzki. Looking back on those formative years on Tuesday morning, shortly before boarding a plane to Minneapolis, Washington acknowledges that circuitously finding his way back to DFW – especially on a team with championship potential – is immensely fortunate. “It’s a full-circle moment,” he tells the Guardian. “Being able to come back home, play for the home team. Not a lot of guys get that opportunity.”

What Washington has done with the opportunity is remarkable. The 6ft 7in, 230lb power forward has been a seamless fit in Dallas, plugging effortlessly into the team’s newfound identity as defensive stalwarts and serving as an ideal supporting cast member for Luka Dončić, the runner-up in this season’s MVP balloting, and born-again-into-relevancy All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. “I was a little nervous at first,” says Washington, having never dealt with the upheaval of being traded. “But when I got here, everybody welcomed me with open arms, encouraged me to be myself each and every day.” Soon enough Washington was comfortable, and finding himself with the opportunity every young, talented player in the league dreams of: to blossom. “When I got here, it was always my mentality to go out there and do anything I had to do to help my team win,” Washington says. “That’s just who I am as a player.” The winning for Dallas commenced almost immediately, as they won 31 of 49 games following the deadline to vault to the fifth spot in the West standings.

While Washington has always possessed something of a pedigree, as a McDonald’s All-American and one-and-done at the vaunted University of Kentucky, some onlookers worried that four and a half years in a losing environment like Charlotte could spoil his winning habits. But for Washington, that was never a concern. “I just have a love and passion for the game. I’ve always wanted to go out and win every game I played.” That hasn’t wavered, he says. He’s just gotten a different opportunity in Dallas. “It was easy for me to go out and compete [even under the circumstances in Charlotte], because I just love being able to say I’m even in the NBA, playing against guys like LeBron, the better guys in the league.” He is quick to add that he wasn’t alone in his desire to win in Charlotte, that other players on the team had the same talent and hunger, but just simply weren’t lucky enough to be life-rafted to a better situation. “I feel like a lot of the younger guys there have that same mentality,” he says. “[Winning] just didn’t happen.”

That’s not to say that it wasn’t a relief for Washington to be back to playing consequential games. He’s proven to be among those special players who are able to ascend to their ultimate potential the brighter the lights become. He attributes this trait to his competitiveness – “I just hate losing. As a kid, even, I was always like this.” – and it shows. He’s been the Mavericks’ third-most important player through two rounds of postseason play. He was, in fact, the team’s second-leading scorer in their pivotal second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, ahead of Irving, sealing the series with a pair of game-winning free throws.

Asked what was going through his mind then, feet on the stripe, seconds left in the contest, his hometown team’s ticket to the Western Conference finals hanging in the balance, Washington said his comfort and preparation awarded him the necessary calm called for by the moment. “I just thought about all the work I’d put in [up to that moment] trying to get better, being able to calm myself down, to just focus.” Another important factor? “I knew my team-mates would be happy with me either way.”

Washington, who is represented by Lift Sports’ Kevin Bradbury and in the first season of a three-year, $46.5m contract, says that the Mavericks have “great leaders” and a team full of guys who just want to win. Beyond that, the chemistry is off the charts. “We’re all excited for each other, we all want to see each other be happy,” he says. “We’re there for each other on the court and off the court.” Therein might lie the lesson for any team hoping to swipe their own PJ-in-the-rough on the trade market from a lottery team. Of course, it’s paramount to find someone like Washington, a player with innate passion, talent and fire. But bringing him into the right situation is what will ultimately differentiate the successes from the disappointments in the second-chances department.

Washington says he hasn’t had much time to reflect yet on his star turn. “Everything’s happened so fast, I’m still trying to soak everything in,” he says. “But if I do look back, right now, I think I would be proud of myself, as a kid. Just being able to reach this point in my career, in my life. A lot of people don’t get this opportunity, so just being able to say that I’ve been here, I’m forever grateful for that.”

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — They might be a little tired but around 100 veterans from our region will never forget their Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.

The flight landed at Hector International Airport a little after 7 o’clock this evening.

People filled the terminal to welcome back all 103 veterans along with dozens of volunteers who helped keep the trip on track.

This group spent three days in our nation’s capitol to see all of the monuments in their honor.

The trip included two, “Flags of our Heroes” ceremonies at the Korean War and Vietnam War Memorials.

They also witnessed the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery and so much more.

Veterans Honor Flight of North Dakota/Minnesota has plans to fill two flights with veterans in late September.