Lends flood relief, special needs help
Day after day, Lori Bercegeay prepares meals, drives an hour to deliver them to people in flood affected areas like French Settlement, Pontchatoula and Maurepas before driving back to her Hahnville home. Much of the time, the food prepared was purchased out of her own pocket.
“It’s just who I am,” Bercegeay said.
Above all else perhaps, this woman is a helper. Bercegeay says she’s always been driven to make the extra effort to lend a hand to someone in need.
“There have been times I’ve been taken advantage of, as far as my generosity,” she said. “But when someone needs help, I usually don’t even have to think about it. I do what I can.”For the past month, she’s volunteered her time and efforts to feed those in small communities who are rebuilding after the historic flooding event that ravaged so many homes earlier this year. On her first trip, she prepared 300 sandwiches and visited the French Settlement area, traveling home to home to distribute each of the 150 two sandwich plates. She delivered sandwich plates each of the next two days as well.
Her effort progressed from there. From Aug. 22 through Sept. 21, Bercegeay traveled to St. Joseph’s Church in that community in order to cook and provide assistance. She picked up donations from various people to bring to St. Joseph’s and then hand delivered them to residents she’d met who were in need. She estimates she helped prepare and hand out around 1,000 meal plates a day.
“I knew people there would be working on their homes in the heat and might not be looking to sit down for a hot meal,” she said. “But sandwiches, drinks, cookies … things they can eat quickly and get back to work, that might be able to help them.”
She noted that while Baton Rouge has received a great deal of attention for the devastation the city endured, many smaller cities and communities were also affected greatly.“It’s still going on. It’s not over at all for those people,” she said. “The residents of St. Amant, French Settlement and Port Vincent lost everything. They are still waiting for debris removal, gutting out, materials, appliances … There are no fast food places within 20 miles of most of the residents. These people are hurting and have lost too much. The least I could do is help them have a decent home-cooked meal.”
She recounted a conversation with one man whose home flooded twice in a matter of weeks.
“He only got about six inches of water the first time, but he couldn’t get back into the house for more than a week, so it seeped in and ruined everything,” Bercegeay said. “He bought new furniture, appliances … then he saw that other storm forming. His home was elevated, so he moved everything up two feet just in case. He got four-and-a-half feet the second time.”
She heard many stories just like that one, but said the people she’s encountered there keep a positive attitude and show a great deal of gratitude for her efforts.
“You wouldn’t know by their demeanor that this had happened to them. They’re really resilient,” she said.
Her frequent trips to the affected areas only represents one way she makes attempts to help others. She stepped up her efforts seven years ago, when she and her husband attended a Special Olympics practice session.
“Those kids took my heart,” said Bercegeay, who went on to become a coach of multiple sports for the Special Olympics. “Wherever there was a sport or a need, I coached it,” she said. “That’s how working with people with special needs became truly important to me.”
Later, she again received what she believed was a positive wake-up call. Bercegeay said she was the victim of a home invasion in January of last year that caused her to fear for her life.
“I kind of got off track with volunteering and serving,” she said. “I told my husband that was God’s kick in my butt to get back on track with the life I was happy with. And that is what I am back to doing.”
Though she enjoys coaching, it hasn’t left her quite satisfied — for this cause, her ambitions run deeper. She began laying the groundwork to establish her nonprofit organization called Special Angels last year, with the ultimate goal being to open a recreation center for special needs youths in St. Charles Parish.
While she intends for the center to be directed to those with disabilities, she wants the center to be open to others as well, the idea being to help further the socialization opportunities for those with special needs.
“There really is no place like that for people with special needs to go,” she said. “For parents of a child with special needs, it’s so hard to even be able to accept and hold on to a job, even if it’s during school hours, because of medical issues and necessity to be available (for the child). Day care centers won’t take those children. It’s not illegal; they’re just not staffed to.”
Bercegeay envisions a center with games and activities where parents can bring and drop off those children to stay, play and socialize without the fear that they will be bullied or not cared for in the necessary manner.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years,” she said.Two months ago, she began searching for the building where she can turn the Special Angels center into reality.
Already, she has purchased several items for the venture, including an arcade machine, electronic basketball game and bocce balls. She said those are for an indoor play area that was inspired by a trip to a restaurant in Gonzales which featured a large indoor playroom.
“My husband has suggested renting the building in case this doesn’t work out, but I know there’s the need,” Bercegeay said. “Ten percent of the population in our parish has a disability. There are 56,000 people who live in St. Charles Parish, so that’s more than 5,000 people. Most of my friends have children with disabilities. I see the need for it every day.”
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