Local briefs: Postal Food Drive, Summer Day Camp, double tragedy in Iberia

Postal Food Drive will be Saturday
Morgan City residents can help combat hunger Saturday by participating in the annual Postal Food Drive.
To participate, collect and bag nonperishable food items Saturday.
These items can include canned meats, fish, soup, juice, vegetables, pasta, cereal, peanut butter and rice. Please don’t include items that are past their expiration dates or are in glass containers.
Place the bag by your mailbox for your letter carrier to pick up. The food will be delivered to St. Mary Outreach in Morgan City.

Teenage brothers
killed in Iberia crash
NEW IBERIA — Two teenage brothers are dead after a crash in New Iberia.
Iberia Parish Schools Superintendent Dale Henderson says both were students at Westgate High School. One was an 18-year-old senior and the other was a 16-year-old sophomore.
A sheriff’s office spokesman said the crash happened around 7:11 a.m. Wednesday when the 18-year-old driver ran a stop sign at an intersection. The car was then hit by an eastbound SUV.
Henderson said the senior student was scheduled to graduate tonight. The ceremony is set for 6 p.m. in the school’s gym.

Summer Day Camp
registration begins
The Morgan City Recreation Department will be having its Summer Day Camp program at Shannon Elementary for children 6 six years of age by May 1 of the current year and for youths not turning 13 before July 31.
There will be three two-week sessions. The cost of the camp is $160 per session per child. Each session of camp will include swimming lessons, lunch and an afternoon activity such as bowling, movie presentations and visits to Lake End Park. The times for the camp are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.
To register, bring the child’s birth certificate and the required registration fee of $160 to the Morgan City Recreation Department, 915 Everett St., Morgan City, between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. or between 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. For more information, call 985-380-4600.
Session 1: June 6-17.
Session 2: June 20-July 1.
Session 3: July 5-17.
U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, has introduced a bill designed to improve employment outcomes for people who received federal welfare assistance.
The bill focuses on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
In testimony in favor of the bill, Boustany said: “Since its creation in 1996, the TANF program has helped American families get back on their feet. But it’s been at least a decade since we’ve made any meaningful changes or updates to the law.
“These solutions before us today are designed to help recipients realize their potential within their own families, as well as in their communities. My bill does just that, ensuring a better focus on recipient outcomes and state performance through a common set of metrics. For the first time, this bill will ensure TANF is focused on outcomes, rather than inputs, including measuring the number of recipients entering employment, retaining employment, and the portion of recipients who increase their wage earnings through work.
“Since one of the main goals of TANF is to help move individuals from welfare to work, we should measure TANF’s ability to do just that.”
Under statute, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program requires states to engage half of their welfare caseload in work or work-related activities like job training. However, there is no current way to measure how states help welfare recipients leave TANF for full-time work, and there is no incentive for states to do so.
Under the Improving Employment Outcomes of TANF Recipients Act, states would be required to measure their success in moving TANF recipients off of welfare into work; keeping former recipients in work; and helping former recipients increase their earnings over time.