LCG's Former Chief of Minority Affairs, Carlos Harvin hosted a press conference on Wednesday evening.
Harvin spoke to more than a dozen people at Lafayette's Main Library, following a youth trip to the nation's capitol last month, which led to his resignation.
"I thank God because without God, none of this would have happened and none of this would have been possible," Harvin said. "We had some challenges, but with the help of God, we overcame them."
Harvin said he takes accountability for a trip that was planned in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 60th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech, not going entirely as planned.
Harvin said despite the hiccups, he gives credit to the students, parents and chaperons who attended for making the trip an experience of a lifetime.
"The whole trip was about 200-thousand dollars," Harvin said. "So, we were already 130-thousand dollars short. So, that meant we had to cut some things...We went from two to a room to four to a room...We cut forty-thousand dollars off the hotel bill. We couldn't eat the meals in the restaurant, it was expensive, so we went to union station and there were other restaurants in walking distance of the hotel that we went to."
15-year-old Joy Alexander said she attends David Thibideaux High School and is grateful to Harvin for the opportunity.
"It was very monumental to me because I was walking somewhere where Michelle Obama and Barack Obama walked before and many of the other presidents," Alexander said. "I never thought that I would be walking somehwere where the presidents have walked."
Harvin concluded his remarks by stating that if the initial fundraiser goals would have been met prior to the trip, he believes the trip would have gone a lot smoother.
"I know that if we would've raised 200-thousand, we probably wouldn't even be here today," Harvin said.
