Opelousas, La (KADN) - St. Landry Parish will soon have a shelter for both women and children. Now there have been talks among councilmembers as a proposed provider wants to establish a nonprofit-operated shelter in Opelousas, which currently only has a shelter for just men, known as the refinery.
The parish has been without a women's shelter for almost ten years after the Diocese of Lafayette closed one that had been located in a former downtown hotel.
Parish President Jessie Bellard explained many women in the parish have nowhere to go, and the need for this shelter is urgent. "Looking at the population, both men and women, the men have a place to go, where the women have no place."
Since the closure of the former women's shelter in St. Landry Parish.
Parish President Jessie Bellard says they have been in contact with a woman for some time who wants to create a parish-wide shelter for both women and children. "We're doing everything we can to help them find a location, which I think we have located a place now, that's going to meet their needs. We just got to modify to some degree to make it work."
The shelter will be for all women seeking help, rehab, or just being released from incarceration. "It's a place for women to learn and know that there is a better life than what they have. If they want to do it for themselves, we are hoping to do what we can to help them move to the next level in their life," says Bellard.
Retired Opelousas teacher Jackie Martin remembers the old women's shelter and the women it helped, and she's happy to hear of the return of a new one. "I am so excited for the women of this parish and their children. It is greatly needed, and I know it will be well used."
Bellard explains that they are hoping to take in a certain number of women to start, but the plan is to expand over time and add more resources. "We have hoping to start to do a thirty-bed facility to start off. I think we can achieve that. Unfortunately, I think we can fill it up fast, you know, but there is room to grow, and that's a plus."
Bellard says the woman who wants to establish the shelter is ready to get the ball going, and they hope to have the shelter up and running by the end of the year.
Parish President Jessie Bellard says the plan may meet the group home ordinance in place, which the plan will then go in front of the council, but Bellard says there has been no negative feedback and believes it would be passed.
