Casey David is an entrepreneur and artist who has two very energetic little boys. She hails from Shreveport and is bringing the area an exciting new party prop! Casey spends her time working on various projects which led to her brainstorm idea. She had a horse trailer and needed something to do with it. Interested in the mobile concept of serving people, she wanted to do a food truck of some kind but had no basic cooking skills whatsoever….enter champagne! She transformed a two-stall horse trailer into an interactive bar with four taps and a full back bar. While most food trucks are a walk-up-and-order-and-leave trailers, Champagne Charlie’s Bubble Bar offers the customer a place to sit and enjoy crisp champagne, wine, beer and whatever the customer provides wants to supply! It has a bubble machine which is a huge hit with both children and adults! The trailer is available for weddings, events, parties and festivals. Travel is available. 

Tonja Myles is a local outreach pastor at Love Alive Church, community activist and advocate, peer counselor, sought after counsel for community-based and system approaches, and a military veteran. Sgt. Tonja Richard, her maiden name, served as a military policeman in The Louisiana Army National Guard for nine years. She promotes mental health awareness and rehabilitation with sharing her life experiences of being in recovery from addiction for over 35 years, two-time suicide survivor, as well as a victim of childhood and adult sexual abuse. Her story is shared in published books, magazines, documentaries, and national television series. She is a passionate advocate of humane and ethical treatment of individuals with mental illness.

She has served on several boards and continues her mission as a servant leader in her community serving on The Mayor’s mental health advisory council, Veterans advisory council as well as a member NAMI. She is an active member of The Bridge Center of Hope board, which is the first mental health stabilization unit in the city of Baton Rouge. She is also trained in some of the country’s top suicide prevention programs such as ASSIST, Safetalk, mental health first aid for adults and adolescents, just to name a few. Tonja has received numerous national and local awards and recognition for her work and dedication to changing lives and systems she is passionate about. 

 Tonja gets her “hand on the pulse of the community “in her role as a weekly radio talk show host on Cumulus media Max 94.1 and 1460 WXOK. She discusses topics related to her listeners’ concerns, with her “real and raw” communication style. Her audience is empowered by intelligent conversations with expert guests, politicians, and community leaders. For 7 years she also hosted a TV talk show called “Choices, empowering you to make better choices so you can live a better life.” Tonja is a well-known local and national speaker. She has spoken on topics related to addiction, trauma, sexual abuse, mental health and suicide in schools, prisons, faith-based conferences, and business training. She is open and honest about her own life experiences in these areas and her path from victim to survivor. Tonja’s message is that proper treatment, family and friend support, faith, and self-care can equate to living a productive life.  Her goal is to reduce stigma and bring hope that recovery is real. She says that her greatest accomplishment is being married to her husband Darren, of twenty-five years.

Black & Gold Classic

The Black & Gold Classic is not just another event for the military. They use their standing as NFL players to bring awareness to the needs of service members and their families. Their mission comes from the heart and experience of just how much these men and women give to protect our nation.

Stan Brock is a former NFL lineman who played 13 seasons with the New Orleans Saints, 3 seasons with the San Diego Chargers and was both the Offensive Line coach and Head Coach for West Point military academy. When he saw one of his linemen lying in the hospital bed after losing his leg during a deployment, something changed. Looking around at these men and women risking everything for us, he knew that he needed to do something to support them. And that was the beginning of the Black and Gold Classic.

Stan Brock’s Black & Gold now holds events in Grand Isle, LA and in Portland, OR. They give the people attending their events amazing outdoors experiences from fishing with local professional guides to shooting clays over the Gulf of Mexico, holding corporate and public events so that everyone can support our military members.

Each year they choose organizations to support, most recently the Special Operations Warrior Foundation – supporting the families and children of those injured and KIA and First to Fight Foundation – helping service members transitioning out of the military. By raising money for these organizations, the Black & Gold has helped support the families of 35 special forces military KIA since May of 2018, along with their spouses and 77 children now living without their mom or dad. They have also been able to assist the thousands of service members transitioning out of the military with career services, community, and other resources.

You can find more information on their website at www.stanbrocksblackandgold.com.

Today’s school libraries are not the same quiet libraries that most of us grew up knowing. The Thibodaux High School Media Center is full of activity where students come to use the computers, read, hang out with friends, and buy a snack or drink from our Starbooks Café. Most importantly, it is a safe spot for our students – a place where they feel welcomed.

Two of my personal goals are to find the right book at the right time and to make lifelong readers out of students. I do this by attending conferences, keeping up with the latest in Young Adult (YA) fiction, and getting students involved in the community.

In May, I received a Donor’s Choose grant. The funds allowed me to purchase ten copies of four different books from a list of the latest award-winning YA books. They are all different genres and levels to reach a variety of students. Books from the grant will also be used to start reading groups this September. In September, I will begin student reading groups where I have asked different leaders of the Thibodaux community to facilitate the discussions. The first book is Sadie by Courtney Summers, which is about an 18-year-old girl searching for her younger sister’s murderer. Lafourche Parish District Attorney, Kristine Russell, has agreed to lead the group.

I also enjoy introducing my library club members to the arts, whether it is a field trip to a Broadway performance at the Saenger Theater or attending the Louisiana Book Festival each fall.

For the last few years, we have attended the Louisiana Book Festival at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. The festival is an excellent opportunity for students to meet dozens of YA authors by attending panels, book signings, and take photos. Last year they had the chance to meet Academy Award-winning actress Quvenzhané Wallis. Since many of the students have never seen the capital, we arrive at the festival early, so they get a chance to tour the building and view the state from the top of the Capitol Tower.

Another program I sponsor at THS is the Lafourche Parish Distinguished Service Program which encourages students to volunteer thirty hours each school year. This is an excellent opportunity to teach students the importance of giving back to their community. Students who complete the program are also eligible to receive a Community Volunteer endorsement on their diploma by the LDOE.

One of the most important things I have learned during my 24-year career is that the student who needs the most support is usually the one I would not expect. I try to be there and assist if I can, and if I am unable to do so, I will seek help from others in the community. I have obtained coats & jackets for students, provided assistance for paying for hotel rooms for homeless students, snacks to bring home on weekends, and delivering food baskets. Seven years ago, I was on a community project that started a Cinderella’s Closet, which has provided prom dresses for deserving girls.

In 2005, I joined Thibodaux Service League and signed up to play monthly bingo at the Cornerstone Foster Care Group home. I was surprised to learn that most of the students in the home were the ones who came to the library daily and felt like I needed to do extra for them. In 2012, a retired teacher friend started a non-profit group called JOTS Birthdays (http://www.jotsbirthdays.org) which provides birthday parties, aging out showers, and graduation parties for students in the home. Many of the students who reside at the Cornerstone Home feel that our Media Center is a safe place. These students know that I have a genuine concern for their well being and will usually let me know if there is something they need.

I believe it is essential to set an example to students by showing them kindness, compassion, and even a simple smile, which is the only one they might receive that day. My favorite quote is from the book Same Kind of Different at Me ~ “You never know whose eyes God is watching you through.”

Melissa Shaddock has been a Library Media Specialist in Lafourche Parish since 1995 and is currently at Thibodaux High School. She is a 1988 graduate of Loreauville High School; and received her Bachelor of Science in Library Science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1993. Outside of the library, Shaddock is an active member of the Thibodaux community. She completed Leadership Lafourche in 2002 and has volunteered numerous hours through the Thibodaux Service League (2005 – 2013), JOTS, and Thibodaux FUMC. She received the Marie Fletcher Award 2014 from Thibodaux FUMC and the Femmes Natales 2015 Citizenship Award.