Gulf Coast Marketplace participating in “Thibodeauxville Fall Festival”

Posted: November 2, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: BayouResilience, Gulf Coast Marketplace, Music, Options for Independence, Thibodeaux, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Gulf Coast Marketplace, a virtual festival supporting artists and craftsmen in Louisiana, will participate as an exhibitor at the “Thibodeauxville Fall Festival“ next Saturday, November 12th in downtown Thibodaux. The Gulf Coast Marketplace booth will feature handmade items for sale from its participating vendors and opportunities for artists to sign up to participate in the virtual marketplace.

Thibodeauxville originated in 1992 in an effort to reacquaint the community with Thibodaux’s beautiful historic downtown area. Since its inception, Thibodeauxville has grown from 13 arts, crafts, and food vendors and a few hundred festival goers to 180 vendors and 15,000 visitors!

The arts, crafts, and music festival is held on the second Saturday of November each year and attracts visitors from as far away as Florida.

The mission of the Gulf Coast Marketplace is to contribute to community recovery by providing opportunities for economic growth and financial independence to individuals and families, especially those impacted by disaster. Developed by Options for Independence with support from an advisory panel of Louisiana economic development, government and business leaders, the Gulf Coast Marketplace is as an online marketplace for hand-crafted products and services.

In addition to the original arts and crafts and delicious Cajun food, Thibodeauxville now features several stages of continuous live musical entertainment. Local entertainers are featured as well as regionally known musical artists. Local residents as well as thousands of visitors to the city attend the festival. Charge no admission fee.

The festival opens at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m. Participants enjoy a variety of activities for the entire family, including our famous “Thibodeauxville Duck Race” in beautiful Bayou Lafourche and a car show featuring hot rods, trucks, antique vehicles, and more.

Plan to participate in Thibodeauxville Fall Festival on Saturday, November 12, 2011…just in time for bringing in the holiday season and shoppers

For more information, please contact rhonda@ThibodauxChamber.com.

Fred Peer lends his first-hand perspective to assist artists impacted by disaster

Posted: October 24, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: @gulfcoastmarket, disaster recovery, Fred Peer, Gulf Coast Marketplace, Gulf Oil Spill, Louisiana, N.O. Brew, Options for Independence, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »
I don’t know a better example of “bayou resilience” than Fred Peer. Fred is a partner with N.O. Brew, a Louisiana-based coffee company that was initially started as a side-project, but unexpectedly became a full-time endeavor after his home and successful ad agency were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Prior to Katrina, Fred served as owner and creative director of The Peer Group, an award-winning advertising and communications agency that represented several New Orleans area companies, including Ochsner Health Plan. Among his many accomplishments, Fred Peer was the creative force behind several extremely successful ad campaigns conceived for Ochsner Health Plan from 2001-2004. With the help of Fred’s creative talents, Ochsner Health Plan completed a successful turnaround and was named New Orleans CityBusiness “Top Private Company” in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
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The Peer Group office was located near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. In August 2005, Fred saw his company disappear with the storm, not through damage from Katrina but due to looting in the aftermath.
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While evacuating with family and friends in Franklin, LA, Fred and his family watched the news helplessly as the 17th Street Canal breeched spilling into the Lakeview area of New Orleans. They soon learned that their home was submerged in 10 feet of floodwater, actually being able to see their house on the national news. Everything they could not take with them was lost.
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Not long after returning home, Fred realized it was time to use his creative talents and his love for New Orleans flavor and culture to foster his new business – N.O. Brew. N.O. Brew coffee uses a unique process to create a wonderful, robust product that takes gourmet coffee to a new level. The beans are roasted, ground, cold-dripped and sealed from the air all within 72 hours. There are no artificial ingredients, no sweeteners and no preservatives. Up until very recently, N.O. Brew could only be purchased in the refrigerated sections at local, Louisiana groceries or online at www.nobrew.com.
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It’s taken them plenty of time, patience and money but Fred and his business partner, Michael Stonebreaker, have steadily grown a local fan base. Those who try N.O. Brew for the first time love it and appreciate the convenience of being able to make one cup of hot or iced coffee at a time. Simply add milk and sweeten to taste. Serve it over ice or make a wonderful café-au-lait in the microwave. Fred used his creative talents to brand N.O. Brew and develop word-of-mouth, social media and grass roots marketing strategies to engage and connect with customers. They sampled and pitched their coffee to anyone that would try it, while they pitched and waited for acceptance from regional distributorships and groceries.
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This week they learned that Central Markets will now begin carrying N.O. Brew throughout their Texas stores, in addition to the Whole Foods Markets which already carry their products, giving N.O. Brew a substantial presence in all major markets in Texas.  Now everyone that was forced to relocate to the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin after Katrina can enjoy a great cup of New Orleans coffee any time they want it.
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The Gulf Coast Marketplace is fortunate to have Fred Peer serve on our advisory panel for the development of this “e-commerce solution for community recovery”. Fred brings his wonderful creative talents and a unique perspective to the development of this online marketplace for promoting Louisiana artists – especially those whose livelihoods were impacted by disaster.
“While the BP spill might have been the catalyst to get the Gulf Coast Marketplace started, I think it’s an idea we’re going to see a lot more of in the coming years. As the world continues to become more globally focused, I believe that consumers are becoming increasingly ‘village conscious’, trying to make decisions that will benefit the areas closest to where they live. The Gulf Coast Marketplace allows consumers to make specific, locally-beneficial decisions that will in-turn help them to preserve much of what they love about the region in which they live. Additionally, the Gulf Coast Marketplace gives local artisans the opportunity to do something that big, mega corporations can’t do. They can give their products a face. And the face is their own. When you buy a product from the Gulf Coast Marketplace, you know you are making a one-to-one deal that directly benefits the person from whom you are buying it,” — Fred Peer, CEO, N.O. Brew
Fred Peer is certainly one creative artist that can relate to the challenges of living and working in Louisiana. It’s great to have him on the Gulf Coast Marketplace advisory team.
Learn more about N.O. Brew by visiting their website, www.nobrew.com.
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Experience the development of the Gulf Coast Marketplace by visiting www.thegulfcoastmarketplace.org.

Help available for those still struggling after Gulf oil spill

Posted: October 18, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: @gulfcoastmarket, BayouResilience, disaster recovery, Gulf Coast Marketplace, Gulf Oil Spill, Louisiana, Options for Independence | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The residual impact of the Gulf oil spill continues to bring a tremendous amount of stress and concern to many living and working in south Louisiana. Every Tuesday morning, crisis counselors from the Louisiana Spirit program tell me stories about the fishermen, shrimpers, restaurant owners, families and small businesses that struggle to make ends meet.

The Louisiana Spirit team provides case management, crisis counseling and outreach for those impacted by the disaster. Another important role that the crisis counselors play is to serve as “workforce liaisons” in the field, introducing people to programs and services that might help them to find jobs and bring additional income into households.

Options For Independence, working in partnership with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) Office of Mental Health (OMH), provided crisis counseling and outreach services to people impacted by Hurricanes Lili and Isidore, Katrina and Rita, and Gustav and Ike. This crisis counseling recovery model became known as the “Louisiana Spirit” program, funded by FEMA and SAMHSA under the Stafford Act.

What is Louisiana Spirit?

Louisiana Spirit Coastal Recovery Counseling Program is a state-funded crisis counseling and stress management program for individuals, families and groups most affected by the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Funding is directed from the Department of Health and Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health to the local Human Services Authorities to Options for Independence. Louisiana Spirit was designed in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to provide short-term behavioral health interventions and help individuals return to their pre-disaster levels of functioning. Today, Louisiana Spirit is still providing these post-disaster services, but has evolved and adapted to meet the needs of the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill Victims.

How are services delivered?

Through Options for Independence, Louisiana Spirit employs Licensed and Master’s level mental health professionals to provide both community-based and clinic-based counseling services. Louisiana Spirit also employs Resource Linkage Coordinators, Case Managers, and Workforce Liaisons. By subcontracting with our TRAC (Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition) and BISCO (Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing) partners, Louisiana Spirit is also able to utilize the services of Community Liaisons. It is the goal of Louisiana Spirit to provide services that are easily accessible, readily available, and that fit the specific needs of each community.

Louisiana Spirit’s workforce liaisons try to match the needs of individuals with opportunities that match their needs. Here’s a list of a few of the programs and services that are working closely with Louisiana Spirit and the individuals and families in need of counseling, job placement, employment training and certification, small business development solutions:

Of course, this is not a complete list. There are many, many people and organizations providing help. As I learn about them, I will try to introduce them to you and those in need through BayouResilience.com. Please share this info with anyone that needs help.

If you or your organization provides assistance for individuals, families and small businesses impacted by the oil spill and other disasters, please provide information in the “comments” section below. I would love to hear from you.

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