Inmates loading meal containers for delivery to Terrebonne senior citizens

Sheriff Craig Webre announced the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office has begun providing meals for the Terrebonne Parish Council on Aging meal-delivery program. The meals are being prepared by staff and inmate workers at the new Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex. The first official deliveries occurred Monday, January 7, but meals were also delivered on January 3 and 4 as a test run for the initiative.

As part of the agreement, Terrebonne Council on Aging will provide compensation to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office to offset the cost of the meals. Therefore, this service comes at no cost to the taxpayers of Lafourche Parish.

“We have always helped our neighbors in times of need, and this is certainly a time of need as Sheriff Jerry Larpenter has had to make some significant cuts at the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office,” said Sheriff Webre. “We have a brand new facility with the capacity to assist in this endeavor. Given the fact that there is no extra cost for our taxpayers, this was an easy decision for us to provide assistance.”

Prior to this agreement, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office prepared over 2,000 meals per day for a combination of the Lafourche Council on Aging, Lafourche Parish Head Start, and Lafourche Parish inmates. With the addition of the Terrebonne meals, nearly 3,000 meals per day will be prepared at the Correctional Complex.

Diana Edmonson, executive director of the Terrebonne Council on Aging, said, “When I called Sheriff Webre to ask if he would assist us, he was very gracious. He never hesitated to say he would help us in any way he could, and we are sincerely grateful.”