As Fat Tuesday approaches more and more parades will be rolling through town and you may be thinking what am I going to do with all these extra beads? LARC of Acadian Village takes unwanted bead donations and turns it into job positions for LARC clients.

LARC is a non-profit group that works with individuals who have developmental and intellectual disabilities. One of the best programs the campus offers is Beads-N-More. LARC clients clean and sort bead donations by size into bins that are then counted out into bundles of twelve. The necklaces are bagged and resold during Mardi Gras.

“It creates a job for our clients that wouldn’t be able to go out into the community on their own. It also gives them a lot of self-esteem when they receive that pay check. They can also do some extracurricular activities or assist with paying bills.” said Carthy Guillet

Carthy Guillet is the Job Development Manager at LARC and says they have had a record year, reselling donations. She says LARC has become so popular, they have received several out of state orders.

“I got a call from Maryland. She was the mayor of this small city and they were having a parade and she needed Mardi Gras beads and she somehow found out about us.” said Guillet

Downtown Lafayette partnered with LARC by creating a letter Y for the YLafayette art sculpture, where parade-goers can drop bead donations for LARC.

“People who are downtown and don’t want to carry those beads home put them in the Y and we will pick them up and our clients will recycle.” said Guillet

If you’re already downtown celebrating Mardi Gras this weekend, head over to the YLafayette art sculpture and donate some beads for a good cause.