Jennifer Gaudet worked to overcome her own hearing loss challenges with initiative, passion, and determination. She mirrors those attributes as a driven advocate for low-income individuals with hearing loss, championing for their cause.
For 20 years, Jennifer served as an Emergency Assistance Caseworker. She now serves as the Associate Director for Individual and Family Assistance at Catholic Charities in Houma- Thibodaux. In this role, Jennifer assists families who may be facing eviction, foreclosure, utility disconnection, mounting medical bills, funeral costs, medicine, or other major expenses.
Jennifer creates additional value in existing programs and services for individuals with low income. She researches, sponsors and facilitates a series of training sessions for local social service volunteers and professionals, teaching them how to assist individuals in applying for Social Security Disability benefits. Her main goal is ensuring applicants are not denied when applying for benefits for their first time.
Jennifer also began the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) e-file Program that she continues to run each year. This program helps hundreds of low-income individuals annually with free income tax preparation and electronic filing for federal and state tax returns. With the help of trained IRS certified volunteers, individuals struggling financially are able to file their taxes at a low cost.
Jennifer implemented and continues to run an annual volunteer Christmas Toy Drive, providing gifts for hundreds of children who live in low-income environments. She recently created and maintains an online social service resource directory, which directs individuals to a variety of assistive services.
Working with Bayou Area Readiness and Recovery, Jennifer assisted caseworkers with getting payment for claims related to natural and man-made disasters. Furthermore, she works with the St. Christopher Safe Auto Program and area car dealerships to help low income families with necessary car repairs. She was also instrumental in the implementation of the St. Vincent de Paul Tri-Parish Pharmacy.
Her peers regard Jennifer as a caring person who is inspired to help others. We thank Jennifer for her leadership and congratulate her as she receives the Hamilton Relay 2013 Better Hearing and Speech Month Recognition Award for the State of Louisiana.
This leadership recognition has been brought to you by Hamilton Relay.
About Hamilton Relay
Hamilton Relay provides contracted Telecommunications Relay and/or Captioned Telephone services to 16 states and the Island of Saipan, and is a provider of Internet-based Captioned Telephone services nationwide. More information is available at hamiltonrelay.com.