OVERTIME OUTDOORS: Gaspard, committee preparing for annual DU fundraising event for Jeanerette chapter

Published 7:15 am Sunday, November 1, 2020

A Teche Area outdoorsman’s fifth year as Jeanerette Ducks Unlimited Chapter chairman has been a challenging one as he and others prepare for the annual general membership banquet Thursday.

Nevertheless, Larry Gaspard Jr. is optimistic. He would love to see the West St. Mary Civic Center filled but realistically believes 125-150 moms, dads and children who care about duck hunting and conservation will show up at 1498 Highway 318 in rural Jeanerette. He pushed for the family atmosphere when he started guiding the chapter and it has caught on.

“Honestly, I think it will be interesting with the COVID(-19) stuff. I don’t know what to expect. Hopefully, we’ll have a good turnout. People I talk to are ready to get out and enjoy normal life,” he said, acknowledging some people are still nervous about the virus.

The 30-year-old duck hunter has been upbeat throughout the weeks of preparation. The specter of the coronavirus virus pandemic has dogged the fundraising process somewhat, including erasing the chapter’s scheduled sponsor’s banquet scheduled in September at the Marsh House on Avery Island.

Gaspard, who lives in rural Iberia Parish, hasn’t been deterred. Neither have committee members and regional officials.

“Well, everything’s good. It’s never easy. This year, it’s hard with COVID(-19) and everything. I’m soooooo ready for it to be over with,” he said Tuesday afternoon after he launched his boat in the Bayou Teche at New Iberia City Park. He wanted to run it to make sure it’s running OK before the waterfowl hunting season begins Nov. 14 in the Coastal Zone and the West Zone.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Thursday for another fundraiser for Jeanerette. A single Green Wing youth ticket is $30, a single ticket for an adult is $45, a couple’s ticket is $60, a sponsorship is $275 and a table of eight ticket Is $600. Online ticket sales end Thursday.

The banquet’s meal will be a jambalaya supper with all the trimmings, he said, noting Ronald and LaKayla Stelly with the Cajun Chapter Ducks Unlimited Chapter are handling the supper.

Gaspard, his wife, Tanya, who has been a big supporter, and their 2-year-old daughter, Charlotte Ann, are ready for another event. Auction and raffle items have been lined up with more raffle items expected, he said.

He is getting crucial assistance for the upcoming banquet from his parents, Larry Gaspard Sr. and Sarah, Calvin Gaspard, Kim Richard, Steven Sandoz and his wife, Lindsey, as well as LeMaire, Troy Dubois, David Hebert and Derrick Davis, Senior Regional Director, Region 3.

Gaspard’s first fundraising banquet experience in Jeanerette was as an active member of the Jeanerette Junior Junior Hunter Education Club. After the club held a skeet shoot to raise money for DU, chapter officials donated Green Wing banquet tickets to the JJHEC’ers.

He attended his first-ever event that year at the Ward 8 Recreation Center. He has attended nearly every year since.

As Gaspard got older, he inquired if he could help and there was plenty of room for that. He also volunteered to help at DU chapter events in New Iberia, Pecan Island, Lafayette and Abbeville.

Five years ago, a DU official asked him if he would be Jeanerette’s chapter chairman and he accepted.

Gaspard, a diesel mechanic at Cargill Salt Mine who also has his own trucking business, L&S Trucking II, took over for veteran chapter chairman Garland LeMaire, who lives near Lake Peigneur. LeMaire, who hunts deer more than he does ducks, guided the Jeanerette DU fundraising events for 13 years before passing the reins to Gaspard.

“Yeah, it was fun. I enjoyed it. But I figured it was time for some young people to take over,” LeMaire said in October 2018.

It’s up to the young people and it seems they are carrying the torch for Bucks for Ducks.

For more information on this week’s banquet, call 380-4641.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.