NEW ORLEANS — A penchant for community service that started as a 10-year-old employee at the New Iberia Parks and Recreation Department eventually turned into a full-fledged career and CEO of an entire region of the Boys and Girls Club.

Thomas Falgout, 48, was born and raised in New Iberia. Growing up, his father Richard Falgout was the general manager of Cleco and his mother Frances worked as a schoolteacher. Both had a commitment to community service that they strived to instill in their children.

“It’s probably illegal now, but I started working at Parks and Recreation when I was 10,” he said.

Former New Iberia Parks and Recreation Director Tony Migues said he remembered Falgout, along with the rest of the family, as hard workers.

“His brother ran the pool at city park, and Thomas was more centered around the summer camps and paying attention to the kids,” Migues said. “He was always looking to help the kids in any way possible.”

Falgout remained at Parks and Recreation all the way through high school and college. Falgout graduated from New Iberia Senior High in 1986 and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (“It was USL then”) in 1992.

“We always did things to give back to the community,” he said. “I worked in the park until I was about 23. It was one of those six year plans.”

From there, Falgout became attached to local Boys and Girls Club operations. The organization provides programs that caters to local youth, with the ultimate goal of putting them on the right track for a high school diploma and future education.

Faulgout worked at the Abbeville unit a year out of college. When the first New Iberia club opened in 1997, Falgout landed a job as the organization’s first director. He worked there for about a year.

After working there for about a year, an opportunity arose that Falgout couldn’t pass up. There was an opening at High Point, North Carolina. Falgout took the job and worked there six years. The decision to move out of Louisiana was a hard one, but Falgout said the priorities of the club are the same everywhere.

“When I was driving there, I kind of thought ‘What am I doing?’ ” he said. “But kids are kids. There may be cultural differences but at the end of the day kids all need the same thing.”

Falgout worked six years in North Carolina. Earlier this month when he was presented with an opportunity to come back to his home state.

“I had applied at other times, but not for this one,” he said. 

“The national conference was here, and two weeks after one of the staff people gave me a call and asked if I had any interest in coming home. They said how about New Orleans?”

Falgout was offered the position Aug. 5 and began working Aug. 8. Along with New Orleans, he oversees the rest of the southeast side of Louisiana that includes Gretna, Slidell and Covington.

Some of the work he’s now focused on includes building the club in New Orleans. Currently, the city only has one location and Falgout said he would like to expand.

“There are a lot of kids that need us need us,” he said. “We want to find the dollars the make more opportunities and grow our resources, our clubs really do change people’s lives. Kids who come here are less likely to pick up a gun and more likely to get civically engaged. The more support we have, the better the community will be for our kids.

“It’s not my hometown but it’s going to be great.”

 

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