Greetings to our friends, members, and supporters,

Next Tuesday, November 28, is recognized as #GivingTuesday—a special day for giving to charitable foundations and non-profit organizations such as The TECHE Project.

All donations will be MATCHED dollar for dollar up to $5,000!

Many of you have recently received a letter request from me urging your support.  The contributions we’ve received in the last week alone suggest just how relevant the programs of our organization are to the people who feel the Bayou Teche is so special and important.

The Bayou Teche is Louisiana’s most historic bayou.  It is also the only nationally-designated Water Trail in Louisiana—one of only 22 such national treasurers designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

But I suspect you know this already and appreciate how much the Bayou Teche means to the thousands of people who live nearby and in the 15 communities along the Teche.  I know you get it because you’ve supported The TECHE Project—the volunteer-based, non-profit stewardship and management organization for the Trail.  And, thank you very much for your support.

Here are several apparent good trends for the Bayou Teche:

• Use and appreciation of the benefits of the Bayou Teche and the National Water Trail designation are growing.
• More and more communities and businesses are realizing the varied benefits of the Teche.
• More projects to improve accessibility and information delivery are in the works.

Downward (not so good) trends:

• The availability of public funding to develop recreation amenities and program services is dropping very fast and the future of state and federal support is all in doubt.

• The operating budget of The TECHE Project is under rapidly emerging challenges to meet the ongoing and new demands for services provided by The TECHE Project.

As you can see, trend lines are moving in two diverse directions.

More than ever, The TECHE Project needs your financial support.  In the next two years, we plan to launch more floating docks; install informative “orientation kiosks”; publish a new paddle trail guide, and expand our educational programs.

In other words, your support and our efforts to enrich the resources of the Teche, help people explore its wonders, and assist communities to embrace all that our wonderful bayou offers.

Ways in which you can manifest your financial support for The TECHE Project include:  

• Consider moving up a membership level, i.e. single to family if appropriate.
• Make sure your membership is renewed and up-to-date.
• During the holiday season give your friends, business associates or employees gift memberships.
• We now have five new one-time donation levels ranging from $101 all the way to $5,000+.  Consider an end of the tax year donation which is tax deductible!
• We have unique merchandise exclusive to The TECHE Project—more holiday gift giving opportunities.
• Take advantage of a special opportunity provided by AmazonSmile where Amazon donates 0.5% of your entire purchase to The TECHE Project.  Think about this for your holiday gift shopping!
• Incorporate The TECHE Project in your long-range estate planning with the help of lawyers for estate planning.  

For the members of The TECHE Project Council and our affiliates, I urge you to take advantage of these opportunities.  Your support is needed as much as ever.  And Giving Tuesday is the perfect day for you to go to our website and go above and beyond your current level of support for The Teche Project. You can also take advice from experts for estate planning for children, an teach them the basics. But make sure to contact lawyers from a reputed law firm like The Hatchett Law Firm – Estate Planning Law Firm for legal advice and plan your estate efficiently.

Above all, we wish you the very best for the rest of 2017 and the new year.

Sincerely,

Conni Castile, Executive Director

Itinerary for Eucharistic Boat Procession Down Bayou Teche August 15, 2016 (Feast of the Assumption)

• 8:00 a.m. Holy Mass in French with Bishop John Douglas Deshotel, D.D. at St. Leo the Great Church, Leonville
• 9:00 a.m. Procession from St. Leo’s to Leonville boat landing
• 9:30 a.m. Boat Procession departs
• 10:20 a.m. Rosary and Benediction, Arnaudville
• 11:45 a.m. Rosary & Benediction, Cecilia
• 1:35 p.m. Rosary & Benediction, Breaux Bridge
• 3:15 p.m. Rosary & Benediction, Parks
• 4:45 p.m. Arrival @ Evangeline Oak, St. Martinville; Procession to Notre Dame de Perpetuel Secours for Benediction.
• 5:00 p.m. Procession from Notre Dame to St. Martin de Tours Church for Benediction
• 6:00 p.m. Procession down Main Street to Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel for Solemn Vespers & Final Benediction

*Confessions will be available at all stops along the Teche

Contact: Fr. Michael Champagne, CJC

fetedieuduteche@gmail.com

www.fetedieuduteche.org

(337) 394-6550

www.facebook.com/pages/Fete-Dieu-du-Teche

The TECHE Project is partnering with Nature’s Link Wellness Center in Breaux Bridge and Project Front Yard- St. Martin Parish to install permanent trash receptacles along the Bayou Teche Watershed. For a $300 sponsorship, we will attach an engraved plaque with your name, your business name, or a name in memory of a friend or family member. This is a wonderful way to help Keep the Bayou Teche clean. If you are interested please click here  or you can contact Kristine Devillier natureslink@cox.net

LOREAUVILLE, La. –The New Acadia Project/Projet Nouvelle Acadie needs your vote!

The project’s video has been accepted as a contestant in USA Today’s (Gannett Publishing): “A Community Thrives” initiative category “Arts & Culture.”

Based on the videos that receive the most votes, judges will award three grants in each category, two for $50,000 and one for $100,000. Watch the video and vote for the New Acadia Project. The voting period is April 12 – May 12, 2017.

Voters must be US residents and over the age of 13. Once signed in, each voter can vote once per day during the voting period. Click here to view the video and vote.

About NAP
NAP is a privately funded multi-discipline project led by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Anthropology Department to locate the lost encampments that served as the original home of the Acadians who arrived in South Louisiana in 1765. These Acadians who arrived in a destitute condition are the ancestors of the Cajun people. In these encampments are also scores of burials that were documented by the priest serving the colony but have been lost over time. This project will not only help solve many mysteries about the Cajuns but also has the potential to bring quality tourism to the village of present-day Loreauville and all of Acadiana including the Bayou Teche. The New Acadia Project fundraising is led by the New Acadia Project Steering Committee that also serves as an advisory panel to the archaeology team.

You can learn more about NAP on their Facebook and website.

For more information contact Alan Broussard, Chairman, New Acadia Project Steering Committee (337) 349-9455.

Project Front Yard is hosting GR8 Acadiana Cleanup, an eight day community “Festival of Service” from April 1-April 8. Project Front Yard is a regional effort, Lafayette Parish came up with the 8 day of “Festival of Service” idea and designated each day to focus on different aspects of Project Front Yard. As a partner in PFY St. Martin Parish is mirroring the eight day festival within our community;

April 1-Commuinty Beautification, encouraging yard work at home and public spaces. Please share your work, or work of others you admire on our facebook page. #SOCIALGOODDAY

April 2- Enjoy Parks/Docks along the Bayou Teche. Get out and paddle, or enjoy a picnic on the Bayou. #BAYOUDAY

April 3- Signs are litter, remove illegal signs from R-O-W and public land. #ILLEGALSIGNDAY

April 4- Project Harvest/Planting Project. Encourage others to plant, especially fruit trees and vegetables. #PLANTINGDAY

April 5- Waste Free Lunch, can you eat lunch without generating waste needing to be disposed of? Let’s try! #WASTEFREEDAY

April 6- Embrace This Space, if there is a space you or your organization out like to adopt and improve, please do so. #BEAUTIFICATIONDAY

April 7- Promote or even contribute public art. #PUBLICARTDAY

April 8- Extreme Makeover: Veteran’s Home Edition #VOLUNTEERDAY

#GR8AcadianaCleanup #ProjectFrontYard #FestivalofService

Contact: Roger Stouff (webmaster@banner-tribune.com)

 
Wooden boat owners and enthusiasts will gather along historic and scenic Bayou Teche in downtown Franklin, Louisiana for the seventh Bayou Teche Wooden Boat Show set for April 21-23.

This year’s show is the seventh event. The 2015 BTWB would have been the sixth, but severe weather prompted cancellation. It was then held in 2016.

“It’s an idea that grew out of a breakfast table discussion at a local diner and has taken on a life of its own,” said co-organizer Roger Stouff. “We’re truly astounded at the growth and participation.”

Stouff, Gary Blum and Larry Couvillier began with 12 boats, half of which belonged to themselves, and the rest from both local residents and owners outside of St. Mary Parish. By the fifth show participation had quadrupled, with boat owners from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and more in attendance.

The BTWBS has become one of the fastest-growing venues for wooden vessels both antique and modern in the Southeast, but has managed to remain a laid-back event held in conjunction with the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival, both set along Parc sur la Teche in Franklin. “There’s nothing else like it,” Stouff said. “Gary, Larry and I started all this to share our love of wooden watercraft with this community, people who might never have seen these vessels and their outstanding craftsmanship. We’ve succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.”

Past shows have featured hand-crafted Cajun skiffs and bateaus of cypress, wooden sailboats, classic Chris Craft, Garwood, Correct Craft, Lyman and Thompson runabouts, cypress pirogues and dugouts as well as many other varieties of boats from various regions of the United States and abroad. “It’s astounding to see the variety,” Stouff said. “It really makes you realize how much the history of much of the world has been molded by vessels made of wood, far longer than boats and ship have been constructed of any other material.”

The show begins Friday, April 21, at 5 p.m. and continues through Sunday at about noon. Saturday is typically the best day to see the most boats, as many of our out-of-town and out-of-state guests arrive Friday afternoon and depart Sunday morning.

Bayou Teche has recently been named an America’s Scenic Byway and part of the National Park Service Water Trails System.

Visit the BTWBS website at www.techeboatshow.com.

Our condolences go out to the family of TECHE Project Member and Active Volunteer, Janet Abshire, who passed away last Saturday.  Janet was a native of New Iberia, and although she moved away for many years, she never stopped loving the Bayou that she called home.  Janet and her husband Joey became members with the TECHE Project at the beginning while still living in Texas.  When Joey retired, they moved back home to ultimately settle on Bayou Teche in Parks.  At that point, Janet jumped into TECHE-Project volunteerism with both feet.  In the 2 years that she was back home, she served on the planning committee for the Shake Your Trail Feather festival, did bayou clean ups, worked the annual members banquet, manned our outreach table several times, and joined the wood duck mile-marker program.

All of us at the TECHE Project will miss Janet’s “go for it” spirit, and her enthusiasm for the Bayou she grew up near and loved so much.

The world-famous literary Dectective Dave Robicheaux, created by author James Lee Burke, is coming home to Iberia Parish, Louisiana with his second festival. The official  Dave Robicheaux’s Hometown Literary Festival: Celebrating Storytellers from Iberia & Beyond will be held March 31 – April 2, 2017 predominately in New Iberia’s historic district, but will also include events around Iberia Parish. Various venues will celebrate literature and its impact on the area’s culture with storytelling, workshops, readers theatre, music, bourré lessons and tournament, Dave Robicheaux tours, a 5K run and food, food, food.

Anyone who is familiar with James Lee Burke and his fictional character, detective Dave Robicheaux, knows of New Iberia and our fascinating blend of heritage, hospitality and history. Burke spent his summers in New Iberia with relatives, playing and fishing in the many water holes that populate the area. His family’s hometown is clearly very dear to him, as evidenced by the prominent part that his fictionalized version of New Iberia plays in each of his novels.

Please check back for additional FREE events that will be added to the schedule. We will announce them on our Facebook page so like us at Dave Robicheaux’s Hometown Literary Festival for the latest.

Please note that James Lee Burke will not attend this event as he will be out of state during the Festival.

http://daverobicheauxliteraryf estival.com/events/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/d ave-robicheauxs-hometown-liter ary-festival-tickets-312038696 14?aff=es2

The next couple months the TECHE Project will be working with folks up and down the Bayou Teche to bring you a world class paddle trail. These events coming up can use enthusiastic volunteers to help spread the mission of the Bayou Teche Paddle Trail!

March 18, Extreme Makeover: Veterans Home Edition Part 1, Breaux Bridge.
March 25, Dragon Boat Festival, New Iberia
March 25, Top of the Teche Spring Cleanup
March 25, Pack and Paddle’s Bayou Teche Paddle Series Loreauville – New Iberia
April 1, Top of the Teche, Tour du Teche race, Leonville – Arnaudville.
April 1, Loreauville Family Fun Day
April 2, Dave Robicheaux’s Hometown Literary Festival, New Iberia
April 8, Extreme Makeover: Veterans Home Edition Part 2, Breaux Bridge
April 21, Cycle Zydeco, Breaux Bridge
April 23, Earth Day Celebration, Vermillionville, Lafayette

If any of these events spark your interest PLEASE let us know how you would like to help!