LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) –  The first Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been declared “Giving Tuesday.”  It’s a national campaign to encourage people to support non-profit organizations.

Foodnet Food Bank Executive Director, Julie Lafleur is a member of the Louisiana National Association of Non-profit Organizations (LANO) located in Baton Rouge.

LANO works to ensure nonprofits act as good stewards of donated dollars and are sustainable enough to support their mission.

Emilie Bowman McBride is the association’s Director of Business Development. McBride says a number of Acadiana businesses have given a percentage of their daily profits to a non-profit.  McBride explains Acadiana’s Giving Tuesday campaign is being promoted through #GiveAcadiana.

McBride says another taget for Giving Tuesday is the future generation. The goal is to get younger people to tap into the spirit of supporting community supporters.

“[Giving Tuesday] It’s really going to be heavy on Facebook with posts and promoting people to go to the GiveAcadiana.org website.  There they can see about the non-profits in the area and the work they do.  [The website] is just to really educate the community to hopefully support those non-profits as they come to the end of the year; when it is really important to get some extra funds in the bank,” McBride explains.

The Foodnet Food Bank is one of the non-profit organizations being recognized as a recipient of Giving Tuesday.

According to the Foodnet website, the food bank serves more than 33,000 individuals yearly in Lafayette Parish through three food distribution pantries.