After 35 years with the Parks and Recreation Department, including six years as Director of the parish’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Jeanne Arabie said she is retiring.
“I think 35 years is long enough,” Arabie said.
Arabie, who was born and raised in Hahnville, was hired full time at the Parks and Recreation Department in 1990 when the department had just three employees. She said she scheduled recreation games and events and helped the staff every year with football equipment fitting, among other tasks.
She said during her time at the department, she most enjoyed working with children.
“To see the children grow up and come in with their own children, that is very special,” Arabie said. “They remember, ‘oh you were the lady who fitted me for my football equipment.’ Yes, I was.’”
With Arabie’s retirement, RSVP will transition to Prime Time Seniors under the St. Charles Parish’s Parks and Recreation Department. The new program aims to enhance the lives of residents ages 55 and up through recreation, education, and social engagement opportunities, according to Grayson Touchard, a spokesperson for the Parks and Recreation Department.
Prime Time Seniors will continue to offer volunteering opportunities for seniors and other popular activities like bean bag baseball, senior bowling and day trips, in addition to new activities.
The department will host a kick-off event on Jan. 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Edward A. Dufresne Community Center in Luling. The event will showcase the new programs like outdoor events, line dancing, technology workshops and art classes and give seniors a chance to share feedback.
Seniors can register for the event online through the parish’s website.
Arabie said the most important thing for seniors to know is that the new program will offer more opportunities for them to get involved and meet other people.
“I was under a federal grant, so with [RSVP] we were more or less dictated on what we could do,” Arabie said. “Under [the Parks and Recreation Department] they can do more with more money coming in.”
Each year, RSVP applied to a federal grant through AmeriCorps to fund the program, Arabie said.
Arabie said she began volunteering with RSVP because she wanted to help people.
“I like helping people, and you meet so many new people,” she said. “And you can help the people that need it, and you can help teach them what you know, and you can learn from them.”
As a RSVP volunteer in 2012, Arabie traveled to New York to deliver two trailers full of donated supplies after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the region.
“That was one of my favorite memories – to see the people so appreciative,” Arabie said. “Living down here, we knew what they were going through.”
When Arabie became director of RSVP in 2018, she brought back mystery trips for volunteers and started a movie day once a month for seniors. But she said she is most proud of the increase in volunteers from when she first started and the fact that the group is like one big happy family.
“Once I meet a volunteer, we are always close,” Arabie said. “During Covid we made a list and called and checked on our seniors.”
She said those friendships are what she will miss the most.
Arabie said she plans to spend her retirement traveling, spending time with her three children, and attending her granddaughter’s college softball games in Arkansas. She said she will also continue to sit on the board of the Toy and Gift Fund, which runs a gift giveaway each year for St. Charles Parish children.
