Rotarian Peter Strawitz invited Martha Aubert and James Douget from the Louisiana Orphan Train Museum to present the program at the Rotary meeting on Tuesday. The Louisiana Orphan Train Museum will be celebrating 15 years in October. This museum is 100% volunteer run, and there are approximately 2000 visitors per year. They do a lot of community outreach as well.
In the mid-1800s, there was a huge influx of people to New York, and due to shortages, there were thousands of street children, possibly as many as 30,000. Sister Irene Fitzgibbons founded the New York Foundling Hospital. She got the Catholic Church involved, and they were able to send children, as many as 350,000, all over the country. Most of them taken in as indentured servants, but they became a part of the families and part of the local communities. The Church sent people to check on the welfare of the children. Many people in this area can trace their roots back to the Orphan Trains. For a long time, their stories were kept quiet due to the stigma attached. However, the stories are being brought to the forefront now. The museum tells the stories of the orphans who came by train to Opelousas. The beautiful pictures on the walls were restored and brought back to life by Bobby Dardeau. There are 434 orphans whose stories are shared in the museum now, but they know there are more. For more information, please reach out to the Louisiana Orphan Train Museum.
Other Rotary News:
• The speaker for the next meeting on February 27th will be presented by Phillipe Vidrine.
• St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Grand Prairie is having their Fish Fry on Friday from 5:00 – 7:00