Catholic High School and St. Edwards School hosted a Family Fun Day on Saturday for Hurricane Harvey evacuees still camped out at New Iberia hotels. 

The event took place on the campus of Catholic High School, and featured sports and games, including basketball, dodgeball, a big jump and a photo booth, according to Jenny Minvielle, Development Director at Catholic High School. There were also tables of food, donated toys and clothing on offer. 

“Catholic High’s motto is ‘Acta Non Verba’ — actions, not words — and ours, St. Edwards, is ‘We are one in Christ,’ and they really fit together. This is really all about that,” said Development Director at St. Edwards School Melissa Dworaczyk. “It gives families an opportunity to have a fun day and not think about home. Our families came out in full force to help. It showed a nice, united front for our Catholic school system here in New Iberia,” she said.

“We wanted a family day just so they could get out of the hotel too,” said Dr. Stella Arabie, Assistant Principal at CHS. “The response (from CHS students) has been fabulous. The response we kept hearing from them was, ‘we’ve been in a similar situation; we want to help.” 

Indeed, faculty and students packed the place on Saturday, volunteering to run games and serve food and generally have fun. 

But at least one family was beginning to contemplate the return back home.

Vivan Foster has been in New Iberia for a week and a half after her hometown of Orange, Texas, flooded. She spent a night at the Civic Center in Lake Charles en route, before that was cleared by authorities, then wound up at the Days Inn off Center Street.

“There were 16 of us,” she said. “Some of us went back already, and the rest of us are planning to leave tomorrow, but we’ll see. I went back this week. The water was still high.”

Her grandson, 16-month-old Dex Irving, rolled out of CHS on Saturday afternoon in a brand new stroller. In the gymnasium, St. Edwards volunteer Thip Evans organized a dodgeball tournament among mostly CHS students volunteering there, with a $100 prize for the victors. “We called it the Sunshine Dodgeball Tournament,” said Evans, who is also the Vice President of the St. Edwards School PTO. “Those kids that won, they gave that $100 to the family that needed a new stroller. They did the right thing. I’ve got to give it to those kids,” she said.

Dex’s mother, Arielle Garrett, walked out of the building carrying bags of donated goods. “The kids got bags of stuff, toys, they got their pictures taken. They gave us food to take back to the hotel,” she said, referring to Dex’s several cousins and relatives present. While most of the family is returning to Orange, Arielle and Dex are returning to Beaumont. 

“We’ll see what we’re going back to,” Garret said, “and we’ll start gutting the place.”