Catholic Charites Announces New Director of Food for Seniors

Michelle HigginsNEW ORLEANS  — Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans has announced the hiring of Michelle Higgins as the director of its Food for Seniors program that serves low-income elderly people in all of Louisiana’s 64 parishes.

Higgins’ career spans a number of human services positions for both nonprofit and private organizations. A graduate of Ursuline Academy, she sees her professional experiences returning full circle to the “Serviam: I will serve” motto that guided Ursuline students.

“Throughout my career, I have always been in positions that allowed me to serve and give back to others,” said Higgins. “Now I am giving back to seniors by helping them secure food.”

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Prior to joining CCANO, she previously worked as director of community services for East Jefferson General Hospital and as director of The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program for St. Charles Parish. Each of these positions required Higgins to oversee several hundred volunteers. Many of the responsibilities at Food for Seniors, including packing and distributing food boxes, are also handled by volunteers.

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Higgins holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology. She was born and raised and continues to live in her hometown of Norco, La. in St. Charles Parish. She and her husband Michael celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary this year, and they have two sons—Ethan, 17, and Reid, 14.

As director of Food for Seniors, Higgins manages operations for a statewide program that includes five warehouses where food is received and packed for distribution to 400 different sites serving approximately 50,000 seniors each year. Food for Seniors, which operates under guidelines of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides people 60 years and older who meet federal poverty qualifications with monthly food boxes.

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Louisiana faces some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country. According to statistics from Feeding America, nearly 13.5 percent of the state’s senior citizens live below the federal poverty line, and as many as one-in-four seniors in a state famous for food are hungry.

“We recognize that food insecurity among seniors is a systemic problem,” said Higgins. “Our goal is to serve as many seniors as possible in the state to ensure that no one goes hungry.”

Since Food for Seniors is currently set up for participants to pick up boxes at various distribution sites, the hunger issue grew even more severe during 2020 as many feared leaving their homes due to COVID-19 risks. Higgins says even though they are starting to see an increase in people now returning to the sites, Food for Seniors has the capacity to serve even more seniors in need.

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Anyone interested in Food for Seniors can visit https://www.ccano.org/food-for-families-seniors/ to find out more about eligibility and enrollment. Lists of distribution dates, times and locations are available by calling (888) 850-9099 in the Baton Rouge area and (800) 522-3333 for New Orleans and rest of the state.

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