New Iberia’s Ducks Unlimited Chapter took care of business to raise bucks for ducks on Oct. 27, a few weeks before the start of the 2022-23 waterfowl hunting season in Louisiana.

Sixty-two banquet-goers attended the annual fund-raising event held at the Isle of Iberia RV Resort. The banquet raised more than $58,000, according to the latest preliminary report from chapter chairman Jason Foster.

Attendance could have been much higher for the recent event, planned long ago for a night without major conflicting events. However, DU members and Catholic High School football team supporters had to choose between events when CHS rescheduled its home football game against arch-rival Loreauville because of the threat of rain from Friday to Thursday. Many DU supporters have sons playing on the team, daughters cheering on the cheerleading squad, and/or other strong ties to CHS.

“While this is unfortunate for our chapter, nothing could have prepared our committee to counter this last-minute change on Thursday morning. Sometimes the only thing you can do is press forward because the only way out is through,” Foster wrote in an email Monday to local, regional and state DU officials.

Foster and the committee had prepared for at least 150 people, the veteran chapter chairman said a few weeks before that Thursday.

Banquet-goers enjoyed beaucoup sweet treats, thanks to Margaret Burke, a lawyer in Franklin and the wife of long-time DU member P.R. Burke of New Iberia.

“We had the best sweets since my time as sitting chairman,” Foster said.

Margaret Burke, who grew up in a farming family and started baking in the fourth grade, said banquet desserts usually consist of brownies and she wanted to “pick it up a notch.” The committee member went above and beyond when she started baking four nights earlier.

She made two pans of cheesecake squares, 85 almond crunch cookies, 70 pecan pralines and, drum roll, please, two trifle bowls full of Death by Chocolate. Oh, my.

The latter was a knockout favorite.

Death by Chocolate started with two chocolate cakes. Holes were punched in each after they were done. Then 1 cup of kahlua, used to make white Russians, was poured in the cakes. After they set, they are crumbled, then covered twice by Cool Whip and chocolate pudding, then liberally sprinkled with crumbled with Heath candy bars.

How sweet.

“I was trying to make something kid friendly. That’s the good thing about DU banquets now. They’re bringing their children,” she said.

The local chapter reached and surpassed its goal of securing 50 sponsors for 2022. There were 40 $350 Pintail Sponsors, 10 $600 Mallard Table Sponsors, one $1,000 Major Donor and one $2,500 Event Underwriter for a total of 52.

Some of the top DU auction and raffle items went to Bart Romero, who took home the 2022 DU Shotgun of the Year ($1,800); Nicky Begnaud, who got the 2022 DU Pistol of the Year ($1,200), Norbert LeBlanc, who had the top bid for the 2022 DU Knife of the Year ($125), and Heath Romero, who left with the 2022 DU Stamp Print of the Year.

A successful event was made possible, Foster said, by the dedicated local committee members and others who volunteered their time and energy. Those volunteers included Chet Schwing and Robert Dore, who coordinated event setup; Jason Broussard, Jim Leach, Greg Mullen, Burke and Blazon Food Specialties, who combined to prepare the meal and dessert; Tommy Broussard, who managed the bar; Jennifer Whitmore and Mrs. Gaspard for registering the banquet-goers at the door.

He also thanked Louisiana DU Executive Committee members Troy Dubois, recruitment chairman, and Dave Hebert, conservation chairman, for their support and contribution to the fundraiser. And to Austin Mouton, DU’s Region 3 director who urged the committee members to get comfortable with the event strategy.

Foster already is looking ahead to next year’s event, noting in an email that plans have been made to invite waterfowl hunters and wildlife conservation supporters to the fundraiser at no cost. He cited a gap between those who are passionate about DU’s overall mission and outdoorsmen who don’t attend for one reason or another.

The N.I. DU Chapter hopes to bridge that gap to combine major donors and people in the community, he wrote.