Melissa Guidry is Vermilion Parish's 2015 Person of the Year

Look for Melissa Guidry during the workday and you will find her at full-time job, teaching at Kaplan Elementary School.
Try to find Guidry any other time and you are almost certain to find her at her second full-time job, running the Kaplan Food Bank, a job for which she receives no pay. Guidry spends countless hours at the food bank, for which she receives no compensation.
The dedication to make something work successfully for those in need is why Guidry is the Abbeville Meridional’s 2015 Vermilion Parish Person of the Year.
“I am so honored,” Guidry said. “That’s a huge honor.
“That’s God putting people together.”
It is the people who drive Guidry.
“It’s humanity that drives me,” Guidry said. “It’s my humanity and my love for God that drives me. Community, family, friends, that’s the drive that’s in me.
“It’s instilled in me from God to do what I do.”
The Kaplan Food Bank is only open one day a week, on Wednesdays. Guidry, along with a group of volunteers, works every day to make sure things are ready for the one day the food bank is open.
“I do have a full-time teaching job,” Guidry said. “This is a full-time volunteer job. I do find the means and time to do it. I come in every day after school. I check dates to make sure none of the food is expired. There is also a lot of paper work. I take a lot of it home.
“It’s countless hours.”
Guidry said she does not do it for reward, though she does get something from her work at the food bank.
“It’s really therapy,” she said. “I am not asking for anything in return. Helping someone is healing for me. Again, it’s humanity.
“If we lose humanity, we lose God.”
God is at the heart of everything that Guidry does.
“I always did pray to God,” Guidry said, “that if he ever put us in a position where we could help people, it would be all for him and he would get the reward.
“It is rewarding, knowing that we are helping people and they are not going hungry.”
Others have taken notice of Guidry’s efforts. Former Kaplan Mayor Linda Hardee, who nominated Guidry for Person of the Year, is among them.
“Every Sunday afternoon,” Hardee said, “she goes to the food bank building to mop, clean and organize the paper work for the upcoming food distribution. The food bank supplies 161 families from Kaplan and the surrounding area.
“I strongly feel that the success and ability to meet the needs of the less fortunate in our community is primarily because of Melissa’s commitment to run it as it should be run, with accountability and transparency, and not for personal gain but because of her Christian values,” Hardee added.
Does Guidry ever find time for herself?
“No, not really,” Guidry said. “On Sundays I do go to Mass and try to get my down time then.
“Most of the time, I am right back over here after that.”
Such a schedule may increase stress for many. That’s not the case for Guidry.
“It keeps my mind going and it’s on good things,” she said. “I always stop and think, if this becomes stressful, it’s not going to work out. It can be stressful, but I don’t allow it to be.
“I keep going.”
She will keep going until the “boss” tells her otherwise.
“I am here for the duration,” Guidry said. “I am here until God tells me that I am done.
“Then hopefully someone will take over.”