Loren Carriere to speak in chapel

Loren Carriere, executive director of Hope For Opelousas, a ministry that serves an impoverished Louisiana city, will speak in Northwestern College chapel services on Monday, Nov. 14, at 10:05 a.m. and Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 11:05 a.m. Both events are open to the public.

Hope for Opelousas is a Christian-based nonprofit organization that seeks to meet the needs of children who live with drug abuse, neglect and an academically unacceptable education system. The agency helps these children become functionally capable high school students who will be able to navigate their way through their education and beyond.

Carriere, a native of Opelousas, will speak on his experiences with urban poverty and the hope that he sees in Opelousas, despite it being located in St. Landry, the poorest parish in Louisiana.

Northwestern has sent Spring Service Project teams to work with Hope for Opelousas in recent years and is planning another trip in March.

“It has been a blessing to see the relationship between Hope for Opelousas and Northwestern forming,” Carriere says. “I am excited to visit campus and further develop the connection we have.”

“Hope for Opelousas is based on the belief that God loves the city,” says Kim Van Es, a Northwestern English professor who has twice participated in the Spring Service Project. “Our students come alongside their staff in ministering to the needs of this urban neighborhood.”

Carriere’s campus visit is made possible by the Ronald R. Nelson Scholars and Artists in Residence Program, which seeks to inspire students with scholarship that encourages peace and justice. The program is named in honor of Ron Nelson, a history professor who taught at Northwestern from1974 until his death in 1985.