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Lorna Bourg,
Executive Director
3602 Old Jeanerette Road
New Iberia, LA 70563
Phone: (337) 367-3277
Fax: (337) 367-3279
SMHA@southermutualhelp.org
http://southernmutualhelp.org/
Counties Served:
Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson (southern half), Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St. Landry,
LaFourche, Plaquemines, Point Coupee, Rapides, St. Bernard, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Terrebonne, Vermilion,
Vernon
Incorporated:
1969
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SUCCESS
STORY
 Mary
Clara Etienne's husband's dream was to buy a home for
his family. Before he could accomplish it, however, he
died of a massive heart attack. Etienne was left to
support their six children on $12,000 a year. Their home
was also in a dilapidated state.
In
1998, Mary Clara contacted Southern Mutual Help
Association (SMHA) with the hope that SMHA could help
her to find a better home for her, her children and her
mother. (Mary Matilda Etienne, her mother, lived next
door in similar housing conditions.) SMHA helped the
locate land on which to build their new homes, and
provided a principal write-down grant of $9,400 from the
Affordable Homes Program of the Federal Home Loan Bank
of Dallas.
Mary
Clara and her mother are once again neighbors; only this
time each lives in brand new homes built just for them.
Mary Clara's children (ages 13, 10, 8, 6-year old twins,
and 2) are warm in the winter months and cool in the
summer. They enjoy playing in the yard and walking
across the street to their grandmother's house.
As
for Mary Clara, she enjoys being a homeowner. "I'm
so very proud," she says. Her mother adds,
"I'm so happy. If I had wings, I'd fly." |
