THIBODAUX, La. — The Peltier Foundation has donated $50,000 to Nicholls State University to help the campus community recover from Hurricane Ida.
The money will be split among the Nicholls Foundation and Nicholls Alumni Federation, with $37,500 being used to provide gift cards to students, and the remaining $13,500 to go toward Alumni Affairs operating expenses.
“We wanted to support the news of the community after Hurricane Ida and we felt that Nicholls was a way that we could get those funds directly to the individuals who need our support,” said Stephen Peltier, foundation president. “It is really gratifying to be in a position to help these students, and we’re hopeful that this will help them as they take another step forward after the storm.”
Hurricane Ida, which made landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, brought devastating winds and storm surge to the Bayou Region. An estimated 25 percent of Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish’s homes were destroyed or are uninhabitable.
Approximately two-thirds of the Nicholls community report that their homes were damaged by Hurricane Ida, with one-in-five students saying their homes were destroyed or uninhabitable. Additionally, more than half of students say they or their families lost access to reliable income from the storm, and another 16 percent reported that their car was damaged.
“Hurricane Ida has turned the lives of our students and the greater campus community upside down,” Nicholls President Dr. Jay Clune said. “But the community has stepped forward and so has the Peltier Foundation. The folks on the Foundation have provided decades of support and have always been generous, taking care of our students and our university, and this is no different.”
Founded in the mid-1990s, the Peltier Foundation has given more than $3 million to Nicholls over the past two decades, supporting projects and programs such as Nicholls Online, the Mary and Al Danos Theater, the Lanny D. Ledet Culinary Arts Building, Peltier Hall, Nicholls Soccer Complex and Stopher Gym.
The Nicholls Alumni Federation honored the foundation’s generosity by awarding the nonprofit the 2017 Corporate Mark of Honor.