Louisiana Inspired

Mark Raymond Jr. knows how it feels to be left on your own. In 2016, the high-achieving former broadcast engineer was at the peak of his career when a dive off a friend’s boat went horribly wrong, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.

Chris Meyer was named CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation in February. Previously, as CEO and founder of New Schools for Baton Rouge, he helped raise more than $80 million to recruit and support top-flight charter schools for the area.

Ten-year-old William Whetsell, of Lafayette, to the rescue.

Utah is seeing a surge in child support payments over the past year, a change that state officials credit in part to a new state law that withholds hunting and fishing licenses to people who fall significantly behind on payments.

After six months in a new home, this week I feel like I finally began to settle into the place. Anyone who has ever packed up all their bits and bags and moved from one home to another, from one city to another, knows the pain. We had been in our previous home for 16 years. We loved it. It loved us. 

A new feature of Louisiana Inspired highlights volunteer opportunities across south Louisiana. If your organization has specific volunteer opportunities, please email us at jan.risher@theadvocate.com with details on the volunteer opportunity, organization and the contact/registration information volunteers would need.

When Alecia Bergeron retired six years ago, she wasn’t looking to start a new career, and she certainly wasn’t expecting any awards.

Dr. James Ammons, chancellor of Southern University of New Orleans, says that he has found his calling.

Editor's Note: This story, written by Chris Winters at YES! Magazine, is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. Each week, Louisiana Inspired will feature one Solutions Journalism story providing tangible evidence that positive change is actually happening right now, in our own communities and around the world.

While volunteering to make the world a better place is important, the value of recognizing and pursuing the big and small things that inspire us, or the quirky things that feed our spirits, should not be underrated either.

Andrew Ward, a veteran and the founder of Acadiana Veterans Alliance, wants to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder and help end veteran suicide in Louisiana. Though it's not a miracle cure, with the help of a single, fast-acting injection in the neck, he and a team of people in Acadiana are working to help those with PTSD.

When an infant’s common cold spiraled into a life-threatening situation, a first-of-its-kind surgery in Louisiana led to a happy ending.

Dr. Karen Roden's transition from oncologist to theologian was seamless. After 31 years as a physician, she earned a graduate degree at Asbury Theological Seminary. 

They call it Burn Camp.

In his childhood New Orleans neighborhood, Larry Irvin figured out early that there were two, maybe three, paths to success – football, hip-hop and a life involving drugs and guns. 

Camille Manning-Broome is recognized internationally for her expertise in resilience and adaptation planning. Her leadership on issues of land loss, coastal community sustainability, climate change resilience and adaptation as well as resident-led community planning has contributed to the transformation of cities, towns and parishes throughout Louisiana. Her work has created knowledge of interest to peers throughout the U.S. and the globe, from South Africa to Scotland to Denmark.

When Diane Baker looks out over her Lafayette yard, she sees not just an abundance of native plants but a vast, and varied, array of wildlife. From different kinds of butterflies and birds to caterpillars and little bugs, it’s more than just a yard. It’s an ecosystem.