SBC 411: Water Bill Assistance Offered, Mentors Needed, Troop Donations Wanted

Water Bill Assistance Being Offered


Need help paying the water bill? The Caddo Community Action Agency is accepting applications to help qualifying people who need assistance paying water bills via the Shreveport Water Assistance Program.

** Applicants must bring in a current water bill, identification, Social Security for all household members and one of the following Public Assistance Forms showing you are a recipient: Food Stamp Budget Sheet, Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program, Child Care Assistance, Kinship Care Subsidy Program or Social Security Supplemental Income.


For an application or more information, visit one of the Caddo Community Action Agency sites:


Eddie D. Jones/Lakeside Community Center, 1729 Ford St., Shreveport, LA 71101, (318) 222-2436.


Amanda Clark/Cedar Grove Community Center, 8001 Fairfield Ave., Shreveport, LA 71106, (318) 868-7222


David Raines Community Center, 1625 David Raines Road Shreveport, LA 71107, (318) 425-2401






Mentoring Program Needs Volunteers


A local program aimed at helping disadvantaged children find a stable role model in their lives is facing a cut in federal funding - but it's not because of the economy.

Volunteers of America's Lighthouse has received a three year $200,000 grant for its mentoring program. The requirement: 50-volunteers the first year, and another 50 the second and third year. The program needs a dozen more volunteer mentors by mid-march or it could lose some of that federal money.

If you're interested in becoming a mentor, contact the VOA at (318) 221-8404.







Caddo Parish Sheriff Offering Scholarship


Caddo Parish Steve Prator is offering a $500 college scholarship for a Caddo Parish graduating high school senior. The scholarship is made available through the Louisiana Sheriff's Honorary Membership Program to help defray the costs associated with higher education.

To qualify for the scholarship, the recipient must be a permanent resident of Louisiana, be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student, and agree to use the scholarship at a Louisiana institute of higher education. Applicants must be eligible for admission to the school indicated on their application. The deadline to apply is March 13th.



Completed applications should be mailed to:


Caddo Parish Sheriff's Media Relations Office
501 Texas St.
Shreveport, 71101.


Scholarship winners will be announced by May 1st. To receive an application, call the Sheriff's Office at (318) 681-0813.







Easter Packing Date Set By Troop Supporters


Local members of Operation Support Our Troops, or OSOT, plan on a March 14th date to pack boxes of goods for shipment to the nation's men and women in uniform for Easter.

The packing will be done at American Climate-Controlled Storage at 6721 Pines Road in West Shreveport, with a start time of 9 a.m., coordinator Shirley Olivieri-Mathies said.


In addition to donations to help mail the boxes to troops, she and her volunteers also are accepting donations of goods to send off.


Items especially sought by troops include hard candy available in after-Valentines Day sales, Pringles-style potato chips and commercially popped popcorn, granola bars and snack crackers, beef jerky, unmedicated eye drops and Band-Aids, non-aerosol sun screen, dust-masks such as found in hardware stores, blank greeting cards, Easter cards or spring artwork handmade by children and notes/letters of appreciation and encouragement.


Donors are reminded that in consideration of religious and cultural sensitivities in many of the nations where troops are deployed, there can be no pork items of any kind.


Donations can be dropped off at the American Climate-Controlled Storage facility, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church at 522 Flournoy-Lucas Road, or by arrangement with Olivieri-Mathies by calling her at (318) 219-7488 or (318) 349-9043.