The Voice of Southwest Louisiana November 2017 Issue

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Reflective Light INSPIRED REVELATIONS FROM A MALE PERSPECTIVE No Place Like Home By Ronald J. Blanchard November is National Adoption Awareness Month established by Dave Thomas, celebrating a nationwide effort to encourage families in the United States and Canada to adopt foster care children. This campaign initiated a movement that is essential to creating a dialogue that addresses the need for all children to have a home. Considering that our children are our greatest assets, it is critical that continued efforts are made to ensure that homeless children are encouraged to believe what Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ believed, “There’s no place like home!” The escalation of juvenile delinquency and crime can be strongly linked to the lack of strong, nurturing homes. Often children are literally thrown away, placed in survival modes that place them in adverse situations and circumstance. As a result, there is a consistent increase in the arrest of juvenile offenders (drug trafficking, child prostitution, theft, murder). In the search for social acceptance and recognition, these children become a part of a subculture of individuals that become attracted to gangs---family! They gain self-esteem and identity as they find a viable substitute for ‘home’. The solution to the problem of homeless children begins with the involvement of the community in efforts to create programs that effectively address these children that need to belong. The Boys and Girls Club of America is credited with shaping the destiny of Academy Award winning actor, Denzel Washington. One of America’s most popular sports icon, basketball hall of famer, Shaquille O Neal’s also values this organization in influencing his growth and development. He also shares that his life was positively altered when his mother’s husband, career Army sergeant, Phillip A. Harrison became his adoptive father. Shaq is a testament of many entertainers and athletes that have used their high profiles to voice the power of adoption. These individuals know that biology and DNA alone do not determine the essence and soul of parenting. November offers time to establish a dedication to intervention that hopes to consider changing the fate of millions of orphans across the United States of America. One must gain elevated insight into this American deficit. Children need to be loved to show love. Understanding and valuing the potentials that all children possess allows a perception of these orphans as assets and not liabilities. A new, powerful commitment is essential in changing a system that may not effectively create pathways to adoption. Innovative collaborations can bring commonality to efforts to create environments that are identifiable as the human family. Adoption is more than the defined act of taking and rearing a child as one’s own child by a formal legal act. True adoption is a part of a heart condition that spiritually inspires an individual to appreciate the gift of a child. Beyond logic and intellect, adoption is part of a premeditated, lifetime decision to demonstrate unconditional love to children who through no fault of their own are parentless. Adoption is a beacon of light that allows one to remember the forgotten as they gain a new identity, a new family. 16 November 2017 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 5 • Number 4
TRINA DUHON, AAMS MEDICARE SENIOR PRODUCT REPRESENTATIVE Medicare Education Seminars November 9, 2017 Central Library 5-7 p.m. November 16, 2017 Ward 3 Power Center 9:00 a.m. December 6, 2017 Central Library 5-7 p.m. 337.477.4647 "Life is trying things to see if they work." –Ray Bradbury “People You Trust, Products You Depend On” Serving the Lake Area for over 50 years! 3406 RYAN ST. • LAKE CHARLES • 337-477-9850 1500 S. RUTH ST. • SULPHUR • 337-527-6355 WWW.PUMPELLYTIRE.COM Volume 5 • Number 4 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM November 2017 17
Page 1 and 2: November 2017 Vol 5 No 4 Q&A BAG OF
Page 3 and 4: editor’s By Brenda Hill It’s Ha
Page 5 and 6: SWLA news Editor's Note: This is th
Page 7 and 8: National Adoption Awareness Month K
Page 9 and 10: practices. You should have annual c
Page 11 and 12: Tips for people with DIABETES are:
Page 13 and 14: The Journey with my Grandma and Dia
Page 15: Taja only allows positivity to guid
Page 19 and 20: Veterans Day Honor For Joshua Mille
Page 21 and 22: SWLA holiday season By Carra Sergea
Page 23 and 24: SWLA nonprofit Fulfilling a Need De
Page 25 and 26: Ianander Thibodeaux, a recent Mass
Page 27 and 28: QBag of Donuts has welcomed two new

The Voice of Southwest Louisiana November 2017 Issue

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