Brandi Stutes has always been taught to help others — and she’s contented that today, both in her life and with her faith.

Stutes, 40, grew up in Evangeline Parish in north Louisiana and moved to Lafayette in 2003.

Now married with one daughter, Stutes works personally with people with developmental disabilities for the Arc of Acadiana in New Iberia as the director of residential services.

Stutes was raised by a single mother after her father died when she was 6, and it was at home that she learned about helping others.

Stutes continues the traditions she learned in her household in her life now.

“When I went to college, I wanted to help others,” Stutes said.

A marketing major at first, Stutes joked she bombed her first accounting class and ended up majoring in family and child studies with a concentration in child life.

“I just sort of got involved in social services that way,” Stutes said. “From there, I was eager to find a job and went to work as a homeless shelter.”

Eventually, Stutes got a job in developmental disabilities in case management and just fell in love with helping others and helping provide a means for families to get through tough times.

“I met with the Arc of Acadiana director and fell in love with it,” Stutes said.

Matching her passion for helping those with developmental disabilities is Stutes’ love for her faith.

Stutes had a Catholic upbringing and said her mom was devoted to her faith.

“You went to church every Sunday unless you were on your deathbed and you probably still went to church,” Stutes joked.

At college, Stutes credits found her faith base and started discovering what she felt she needed to do a Christian adult.

“Throughout my life I have practiced Catholicism and have been heavily involved in the church,” Stutes said. “In college I did a lot of mission trips and things like that.”

Like the mission trips she took in college, Stutes said there is a connection with the work she does now — helping others — to the lessons taught by Jesus Christ.

And it’s because of Him that Stutes is most grateful.

“When you have no one, you have Him,” Stutes said. “He is there for you. He doesn’t say, ‘I was there for you or I will be there for you,’ He says, ‘I am there for you.’”

A verse that Stutes looks to when think of her love for God is 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Stutes looks at it as one of her life verses, as it helps remind her to help give herself a little grace.

“You can’t beat yourself up when things go wrong, you just have to do the next, right thing and get back on track,” Stutes said.

One of the big steps for Stutes right now is finding God and finding a community, and helping to give back to both.

“Whenever you are a believer, you live your life with an attitude of gratitude,” Stutes said. “It’s like your life is a mirror. People see that … once you are able to build that relationship, that is showing God’s love and God’s kindness to others.”