Cecilia teen Devin Lanclos is the co-founder of “The Furry Friends Project” alongside his mother Rebecca.
In 2016, Devin at just 8-years-old and his mother witnessed a child on the side of the road with police after a car accident. A few days later when cleaning out his playroom he thought of the idea of how donating his old toys could provide comfort to children in unexpected situations.
“A policeman was comforting a small child and I came up with the bright idea that, hey, what if we have some if these old stuffed animals that we’ve had in our playroom and we just donate it to the first responder and comfort the child?” Lanclos said. “Because the child was crying sobbing, the child was obviously confused,” Lanclos said. “Why don’t we donate?”
Henderson Police Department Captain James Thibodeaux said in the past he’s seen how children responded to the stuffed animals at the site of a car accident.
“About two years ago, we had a pretty severe crash when construction was going on on I-10,” Thibodeaux said. “Parents were ejected, children were involved in the car and his tools of the stuffed animals that he provides us was pivotal in helping us to be able to assist these children personally because their parents could not."
Rebecca Lanclos said she feels a need to give back to first responders who during Hurricane Ike in Texas transported her pregnant on a life flight. Devin was then born weighing one pound.
“I was in a situation myself where a hurricane had hit my home and in a situation to where at one point in life I needed things,” Rebecca Lanclos said. “I think that teaching Devin that giving back to the community is really important.”
Devin said since the organization was founded they’ve handed out 700 bags of stuffed animals to first responders throughout St. Martin Parish.
Last Friday the Furry Friends Project alongside Crawfish Town honored first responders and accepted donations.
Devin aspires to turn his organization into a non-profit, supplying Louisiana and then hopes to take it nationally.
“I do believe that police officers can do these sorts of things because like I said, children see stuffed animals like their friend and it is a national ideology throughout children,” Lanclos said. “So it would comfort the country’s children.”
