If you visit the office of Jason Cohen, a well known photography talent in Lafayette, LA you will not just see beautiful art, you will also have the privilege of chatting with witty, jovial, and very generous people. You will quickly learn that photography is just one of Jason’s passions. The other is coffee, quality coffee. In the back room of his office he has installed a dual head espresso machine and he brings in gourmet coffee beans from different places. This very tasty coffee is a means to great conversation and fellowship for Jason. I asked Jason about why he decided to start Café Cohen. He said,

“The very beginnings of coffee for me was when I would go to Portland, Seattle, or New York and have fantastic coffee. Coffee that did not exist in the south, much less in Lafayette. I got tired of coming home to mediocre coffee so I decided to go out and find an espresso machine (in Dallas). Most recently I flew up to Seattle to pick up an espresso machine, a.k.a. The Beast, which now resides in Café Cohen. The real start for Café Cohen came out of more of a joke of people always calling to see if “Café Cohen” was open. From there it became a bit of an outlet to connect with people and feed a little bit of a personal passion at the same time.”

Café Cohen began as a way to have meaningful interaction with clients and people he knew. It has become a regular stop for us when we are in Lafayette. Recently Jason came up with the idea of having a donation jar. He decided that the proceeds would be given to HFO. The money is used to provide snack for our after school program. Jason has also done some photography for us and we consider him a dear friend of HFO. Thanks Jason for sharing your passions with us and turning out some amazing products, both your coffee and your photography.

Hope For Opelousas is starting up an exciting new ministry called Hope on the Hill.  It’s a tutoring program for school-age children in the Hill neighborhood of Opelousas.  It will run Tuesday through Thursday from 3:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. each week, beginning in August when the public schools are back in session.  We have made many plans and obtained lots of resources to get this program started, but in order for it to be successful, we need volunteers who are willing to serve by helping to tutor children with homework, practice math and/or reading skills, or providing food (meals or snacks).

Now, if you think you don’t know how to tutor kids, we’ve got just the prescription.  Hope For Opelousas will provide an orientation and training session on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. Stop by for a while to find out what this is all about and learn everything you need to know to help our young people in the Hill neighborhood strengthen their reading and math skills.

The folks from Bryan College who joined us for a week in March to help remodel a house for an elderly woman in Opelousas and put on an after-school program for youth who live in the hill neighborhood put together some highlights from their trip.

A group from Northwestern College in Iowa also were able to serve our city for a week in March.  They also worked with the youth of Opelousas in an after-school program and served our men’s shelter by building and installing new bunk beds.

A HUGE THANK-YOU goes out to these two groups. They had a huge impact and have been instrumental in helping to get Hope For Opelousas off the ground.