IBERIABANK has made a donation of $6,000 to the three historic St. Landry Parish churches recently destroyed by arson.
The donation is being made in conjunction with Giles’ Automotive’s Giles Gives Back to St. Landry Churches campaign, according to a release.
“One of the hallmarks of our Company is to support our community in meaningful ways,” said Jerry Vascocu, Executive Vice President and Acadiana President for IBERIABANK. “We are very proud to help restore these historic churches in support the parishioners and commend Bob Giles for setting up this effort to engage the entire Acadiana community to help our friends in St. Landry Parish.”
A press conference was held Friday, April 12 announcing the start of the campaign.
Campaign aims to raise funds for burned St. Landry churches
Donations can be made by the public to the Giles Gives Back account at any IBERIABANK branch location.
Giles Automotive says that they will match donations made during the 30 days of the campaign dollar for dollar up to $50,000.
Funds raised from the campaign will be distributed between St. Mary’s Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church, and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.
An arrest in connection with the church fires was made last week. On Monday, 21-year-old Holden Matthews was formally charged with two counts simple arson, one count aggravated arson and three counts hate crimes. Bail was denied.
Read more: Suspect in black church fires formally charged; bail denied
