St. Tammany Project Christmas Gives Back to the Community

You could call them St. Tammany “elves,” those are the volunteers who dedicate their time and skills at this time every year to make sure that families in need in St. Tammany Parish have both food and gifts to give their kids for Christmas.  The organization is called St. Tammany Project Christmas, and its purpose it to provide toys and a Christmas feast to 1,650 children, 30 senior citizens, and 650 families on the North Shore.

A vetting process is in place to make sure that the families that are being provided for are qualified to receive the gifts. The volunteers are employed to put together gift baskets filled with non-perishable

food and vouchers for the Christmas meat selected by each family.  They also help with assembling gifts, including bicycles, to be given as gifts for the kids. Sometimes, there will be as many as 300 bikes to make sure they are in working order.

The centers and distribution sites where this project is conducted is located in Mandeville, Madisonville, and Slidell, Louisiana.

“The absolute worst thing that could happen would be for a child to be forgotten,” said Penny Weaver, who has been volunteering for the past six years.

The gifts and gift baskets are distributed all at once on what is known as Distribution Day, which is Saturday, December 16th. Volunteers of Project Christmas have been donating their time and efforts for years – one volunteer has been doing it for 11 years.  This year’s officers include Mike Callaway, vice president; C.J. Giffin, treasurer; Suzanne Switzer, secretary; and Rene Arsenault, Jewell Bayhi, Margaret Diaz, Elizabeth Lamulle, Wendy Norlin and Rick VanArsdale.

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Know Your Credit Score and Other Helpful Home Buying Tips

There are many tools that new home buyers can use to prepare to become a homeowner, which were not available even a few years ago.  On the Internet, new home buyers can access home loan calculators, tax appraisals, pre-qualification opportunities, and constant credit monitoring.  Some new home buyers may not realize that the last item – credit monitoring – is one of the most important factors that lenders use to determine eligibility for a new home loan.  Staying on top of your credit right before you are about to buy a home is the most important thing you will need to do unless you are planning on being able to purchase a new home for sale with cash.

If you have the availability, sign up for a free credit monitoring agency which will not only be able to constantly inform you about your credit report, but it will also alert you if there are any changes to

your credit report.  You are going to want to know exactly where you stand with your credit when you go to apply for a loan.

If you check your credit report, and you see items on it that you don’t recognize, be sure to immediately report those errors to the credit agencies so that they can be removed.  Any good credit monitoring company will have information where you can dispute items on any of the three credit agencies’ reports.  You will need to have as clean a credit report as you can when applying for a home loan.

Finally, if there are legitimate items on your credit report which need to be addressed or paid, you will want to be sure to take care of those before applying for a loan.  Some banks won’t approve you for a loan with derogatory marks on your credit report.  Others will give you a loan, but it will be for a higher interest rate than you would have gotten with a better credit rating.

Credit is the biggest factor in getting a home loan, but don’t forget that you will need to have enough income to qualify for a home loan. Make sure you know how much you qualify for before going out to search for a house, so that you don’t go out of your price range during your search.

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Madisonville Mayor’s Name Used in Naming New Library

The mayor of Madisonville and the man responsible for the construction of the new library which overlooks Lake Pontchartrain on the shore of the Tchefuncte River is Peter (Pete) Gitz.  Even though, typically, it is customary for someone to be deceased for 7 years before naming a building or a road after them, Peter Gitz watched his name being unveiled on the side of the new Madisonville Library on Wednesday, December 13th.  The old Madisonville library, which formerly stood on Cedar Street was damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

This unique event came about because the Louisiana Legislature approved an exception to the state law which was introduced by Parish president Pat Brister and sponsored by State Representative Reid

Falconer, R-Madisonville which allowed the naming of the new library after Peter Gitz while he was still alive. The purpose was to reward him for his years of service to the community and the accomplishment of seeing the new library constructed.

“This is one of those times when a good thing happens to a good person,” current Madisonville Mayor Jean Pelloat said in remarks which preceded the unveiling of the new building sign where dozens of people showed up to support the mayor. Described as a humble, small town mayor who was respected, 83-year-old Gitz served Madisonville for 10 terms as mayor.  Just as humbly, Gitz accepted the accolade with simplicity saying, “I just felt like we shouldn’t be without a library. I’m thankful to a lot of people who helped get this done. I’m really proud of everything that we’ve done and all the hard work people put into it.”

Located on donated land consisting of 1.5 acres, the library is a raised structure which is 14 feet off of the ground, and the cost of construction had a price tag of $4.7 million. With 15,000 square feet of space, it is one of the biggest libraries within St. Tammany Parish.

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Important Home Buying Information

In case you haven’t been “in the market” to buy a home in a very long time, now its as easy as a touch of your finger to begin the search for the perfect home you wish to buy.  However, this article gives you some helpful tips on how to process and move forward with the information that you find online during your home buying process.

Before you even get started with buying a home, make sure you know what type of home that you want.  That doesn’t just mean, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, and location, although those are pretty much mandatory pieces of information you will need when searching for a home to buy.  Make a list of the items that you can and can’t “live without.”  If you definitely need a space for an office, make sure that the home you are buying has a room with enough outlets and phone lines to install your office equipment and hook up a modem.  If you need a lot of cabinets in your kitchen, make sure that you put that on the list and don’t settle for a home that has a kitchen which won’t be functional for you.  When you have your list of of absolute must-have’s, then make sure you know how much home you can afford so that you can find a home that not only fits your needs but fits in your budget.

Once you have established the exact type of home that you want, start your real estate search online.  There are hundreds of websites out there which carry what is called an IDX feed, which is access to the MLS feed (Realtor listings) of all homes for sale in your area.  By using a useful website, you can actually sort the homes for sale by bedrooms, baths, square footage, and price.  Once you have sorted down the homes which fit your basic requirements, you can view multiple pictures of the homes for sale to see what type of features they include.

After utilizing all of these preliminary tools, you may consider hiring a Realtor who can take you around, get you access to homes for sale, educate you on parts of town, school districts, and realistic pricing.  A Realtor should have their finger on the pulse of the real estate market and should be well-informed on where homes with your price range and parameters may be located. Also, a Realtor can assist you throughout the entire buying process as well.

When you are doing your preliminary research, be sure to pay attention to any open house information you may see about homes in which you are especially interested.  It is also advised that you drive the neighborhoods in which you are interested, as well as the surrounding area to see if they are going to fit your lifestyle as well as your budget.

All of these tools should help you make an informed and intelligent decision about the home you wish to buy.  These tips should also get you as close as possible to any existing home on the market which is in your price range, with the features you want, where you and your family can be happy.

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