By Sandra Laborie
The Times-Picayune
GRETNA, La. — Gus Cuny, Allen Grabert and Joyce Grabert, members of the Gould Fire Department in Gretna, recently made very generous donations to three worthy causes.
They gave $10,000 to the Poker Run for Children’s Hospital that was sponsored by Plaisance Bar in Gretna. Their next donation of $13,000 was given to KidsSpeak, a division of Chinchuba Learning Center. The final donation of $13,000 was given to Westbank ARC.
“We were able to raise a lot of money when we held bingo,” said Allen Grabert, Gould’s assistant fire chief. “We’re really glad to be able to help so many people with our donations.”
“We used to hold bingo to raise money,” said Cuny, the fire department’s vice president. “We stopped holding the bingo and we still had money in the account. These donations represent the last of the money in our bingo account. We wanted to close the account and wanted to help these organizations when we did it.”
Cuny said that loss of membership and the loss of the organization’s contract with the city of Gretna were two of the reasons that Gould stopped holding the bingo.
Christy Leece, the executive director of KidsSpeak, said that the donation couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We really are grateful for the Gould Fire Department’s donation. It comes at a time when our donations have really slacked down. With the economy as it is, we haven’t been receiving as much grant money and are very much in need of this money,” Leece said. “We want the fire department to know that we are very thankful for their donation to us.”
Chinchuba’s KidSpeak Learning Center provides early intervention services to children ages 2 through 5 with a focus on teaching deaf children and those with speech and language delays to speak intelligibly and to understand the speech of others. The school is located in Gretna.
George Wedge is a board member of the Westbank ARC, a nonprofit group that serves the mentally disabled.
“We are very excited to receive this money,” Wedge said. “We have been working a long time on a pet project and this will certainly help us to reach our goal.”
That project is to buy a new van with wheelchair lifts. The money from the Gould Fire Department, along with other funds that they have already raised, will allow them to finally make their purchase.
“This is truly appreciated,” said Wedge. “It took the fire department a long time to raise this money. Our group would be hard pressed to come up with this amount. We really want to thank the fire department for their generous donation to us.”
The donation to Children’s Hospital will be part of the total donation that will be made sometime in July from the profits of the poker run held by Plaisance’s Bar. When I spoke to Mensy Plaisance recently, the amount raised was more than $40,000 and counting.
Residents and visitors are invited to log onto the city of Gretna’s Web site for useful information.
The city was founded in 1836 and today is a vibrant community of more than 17,500 residents and home to more than 900 businesses. Please browse their Web site at www.gretnala.com to find out more.
Their community guide is available online along with information about city government, parks and a city calendar of events. Residents can also find out lots of information about city services. With hurricane season here, you might want to prepare yourself by looking up some of this information ahead of time so that you are ready if the time comes.
Copyright 2009 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company