A local historic museum here in Opelousas was almost forced to shut down his doors for good due to the coronavirus pandemic last year.
The museum strictly runs off of donations, meaning there's no fee to get in; however, when the pandemic started last year, the doors were forced to close and that made money hard to come by. As a result, upkeep and paying expenses became a challenge. That's when locals decided they wanted to make a difference and make sure that didn't happen. Donations from locals started to come in, including one business that donated a new sign for the museum and even paid their rent for an entire year. That ultimately led to a positive trickle down effect.
"When I saw the other company that assisted him, it did my heart well. We're trying to bring awareness, especially for the youth, the youth really don't know much about the history, our ancestors," explained Marshell Rosette, Client Solution Leader at Hancock Whitney Bank. "We just want to bring our awareness and show that our company also, we're out here in the community serving."
Wilken Jones with the museum said, "I'm very appreciative for the support that we have today for the community in front of museum. And it's a welcome feeling. Well like someone said before, if you know where you come from and you know where you are, then you have a good idea where you want to go. And the museum is a documentation of how blacks lived from the period of 1860 to 1960s, the struggles and trials and tribulations."
A lot of the people we talked to wanted to bring awareness to the museum, so if there's any way you can help by making a donation or even paying the museum of visit once it's back open, that would certainly go a long way,
You can find more information on the museum on their Facebook page. The museum is located at 1414 N Main St in Opelousas.
We're celebrating Black History Month at KATC, and we'll be sharing local and national stories all month long. To find more stories, visit katc.com/blackhistorymonth.
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