Food and art festival benefits Holy Angels

For the first time in two years, supporters of Holy Angels Residential Facility and the public at large will be able to attend the annual TASTE fundraiser in person, which provides vital funds for the operation of the Shreveport landmark charity.

“We’re having an in-person event this year, and it’s our 41st TASTE,” explained Laurie Boswell, Holy Angels executive director. “We are very excited. The vendors and restauranteurs are coming out in full force. We have new restaurants, we have our loyal restaurants that come every year, and we have a whole host of, I think, more sponsors than we’ve ever had.”

TASTE: A Festival of Food and Art will be held on Sept. 15 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Bossier Civic Center.

Tickets are $75 a person and include a sampling from all restaurant vendors, Holy Angels’ trademark lasagna and complimentary beer and wine.

Guests can participate in a silent auction, listen to live music from Windstorm, performances by the Holy Angels Choir, participate in a wine pull, and take a chance on Split the Pot tickets.

“It’s really a festival of food, music and art,” said Boswell. “It’s a celebration of the arts and of Shreveport’s best. So many local artists have donated pieces that we’ll be auctioning and over 100 Angel Art pieces that are just fantastic.”

According to Boswell, auction mavens can go online starting Sept. 1 to view and bid on auction items. Some items up for bid include locally made firepits, custom cowboy boots and many pieces of art – some imported from out of state. Boswell noted that auction participants from across the country log in to take their chances. For more information, log on to www.laholyangels.com

As with almost every other entity in America, Covid caused problems for Holy Angels, Boswell said. “Luckily, we had our strong emergency preparedness initiative already. We had a room full of water, PPE supplies that we were able to fall back on. It was a scary thing. This TASTE is more important, so important this year because of this increase in cost. You can imagine, medical supplies and food alone for 180 people. Then the maintenance and repair of the property and the homes.” [Holy Angels has 13 units for residents. Seven are on the Ellerbe Road campus, while six are in the community.]

“It’s been very difficult. Holy Angels is excellent because of the people that work here. We immediately saw that we had to reward our team for that excellence. And we have to make sure that we retain them and give them a living wage and a career path.

“Our managers and our staff stepped up and covered, but at the same time we did use, and we continue to utilize, contract employees that have cost us significantly. Sometimes three and four times the rate that we were paying. The traveling nurses, as the hospitals experienced it, we experienced it, and we didn’t have specific reimbursement for that. We had to pay for that. That combination has equated to an over $2 million deficit last year that we were able to meet with grants and support from the community.”

Boswell said they had budgeted for a seven or eight percent inflation increase this year, and the news has her concerned about whether that will be enough. She said donations, grants, her loyal staff, hardworking managers, a legislative delegation from across the state and the Louisiana Department of Health have pitched in to keep Holy Angels moving forward.

“We stepped out in faith,” she said, “and we did what we thought was the right thing to do. It’s not like we can just shut down group homes. We have to keep operating.”

That determination to keep operating was kindled formally in 1965 when construction began on the facility.

But years before that, a young man studying for the priesthood in Rome by the name of Charles P. Greco was struck by an idea.

“He was in Rome studying to be a priest and he looked out a window, as he studied, that overlooked a school for children with disabilities. He said that God put it on his heart to come back to the U.S. and to serve individuals with disabilities,” Boswell said.

Greco would become a Roman Catholic priest and eventually would rise to the bishopric of Alexandria. Determined to fulfill what he saw as his mission, Greco contacted the sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows.

“They began in Remini, Central Italy,” Bowell explained. “He brought them over, and they started in Clarks, La. In some old barracks. They raised up poor children of sharecroppers. Then they began to bring in the little children and babies with Down Syndrome.”

Greco received a donation of 44 acres on Ellerbe Road from three families in Shreveport, the Pollards, the Gilsters and the O’Briens. From that gift, the current facility took shape.

Holy Angels currently employs more than 260 staff members who care for the daily needs of the more than 180 residents. Some services provided to residents are work readiness training in the AngelWorks Day Program, applied behavior analysis in the Autism Center, physical and occupational therapies, aquatic mobility, dental and medical care, and psychiatric and psychological services.

Events such as TASTE, the sale of the art and crafts the residents make in their workshops, and the donations and grants Boswell mentioned go to close the annual gap of approximately $1.5 million due to Medicaid shortfall. “It’s been significant over the years,” Boswell added, “because we are committed and determined to honoring Bishop Greco’s mission, as he established it, as ‘cradle to grave.’”

Holy Angels reports that 85 cents of each dollar brought in goes to client care.

“The products and services that we produce hold an intrinsic value,” according to Boswell. “It translates our mission into the hearts and souls in the community. You buy a piece of our artwork or piece of pottery, and people tell me, ‘I look at that platter every time I use it, I think about the artist’s name on the back and about what y’all do at Holy Angels.’ It’s very touching.”

Despite the seriousness of the cause, Boswell said folks who come to the event are sure to have a good time and find something to take away from the evening.

“We’re going to feature a photo booth and some surprises. We are going to have complimentary wine and beer, and a cash bar for other libations,” she said. Local artist Lauren Ross is working on a special piece for the event in collaboration with an Angel Artist that will be auctioned off at TASTE.

Also on tap for the evening are winners of the Holy Angels talent show who will provide entertainment. Boswell added, “Then, of course, we have Windstorm. They have been with us for several years, and they put on a great show.”

All the preparations for this event are designed to help make Holy Angels’ mission more familiar to local residents who do not know, or may have forgotten, what this facility means to so many people.

“I think it’s a jewel of our country and state,” Boswell added, “but a lot of people don’t really know what we do. And even though we try to get the word out, I think people just know it’s a beautiful looking as they drive by, but they aren’t exactly sure what we’re doing.” TASTE will, hopefully, help get that message across.