VACHERIE — Claudette Aubert of Vacherie is a woman of many interests.

All of her past accomplishments and all she continues to do can be described with one word — service.

For a long time, she has dreamed of one day making a difference in her community. She has done so many times over.

Because of the many ways she has served and the many things she’s done, she received the 2016 President’s Volunteer Service Award at the Lifetime Achievement Awards Presentation in January at Solid Rock Christian Fellowship in Kenner.

Signed by former President Barack Obama, the award recognizes Aubert for helping address the most pressing needs in the community and country.

“Your volunteer service demonstrates the kind of commitment to your community that moves America a step closer to its great promise,” the award letter states.

After 33 years in the Ascension Parish public school system as a speech pathologist, guidance counselor and vocational coordinator, when most are considering retirement and a slower pace at life, Aubert founded “Word Teaching Ministries” in 1999.

Dr. Claudette Aubert was ordained in 2001 and became the pastor of New Hope International Community Center of Vacherie, a non-profit ministry.

The church’s mission is “to empower people with the word of God, populate the kingdom of God, make disciples, reach the lost, unloved, rejected, unchurched and develop the whole person — spirit, soul and body.

In 2007, the ministry bought a 22,000 square foot building at the intersection of Highways 20 and 3127 in Vacherie, which became New Hope International Family Worship Center.

It now serves as a multi-purpose structure, used as a distribution site for a food pantry supported by an alliance of local ministers, as well as a commodities center for needy families.

The building also houses a senior women’s group that has exercised there for five years.

Aubert has served as a motivational speaker in her home state, California, Illinois and Georgia, as well as in China, Congo, South Africa, Belgium and Argentina.

The mother of three and grandmother of three has hosted her own television program, “Today With Pastor Claudette Aubert.” The broadcast airs on 20 WHNO every Sunday at 6 a.m. She has also hosted weekly radio broadcasts on New Orleans and Donaldsonville stations.

She has written two books, “Marriage Come Forth,” and “Marriage Too…,” an 8-week program to restore troubled marriages.

Many relationships have been restored as a result of her seminars.

With a deep passion for women who have been rejected, abused, are in troubled relationships, divorced or experiencing hardship, Aubert, a licensed professional counselor, has offered counseling to women and children.

She also ministers to incarcerated women once a month at the St. Charles Parish facility.

She has also taught Developmental Reading for a year at Nicholls State University and has served more than 15 years on the St. Elizabeth Hospital Women’s Advisory Board.

Her most recent project was to open Greater Grace Charter Academy in Vacherie.

She was awarded the Type 2 Charter by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in January of 2016, the first charter school in St. James Parish. Although open for less than a year, enrollment is already at 100 students.

Married to Elton Aubert of Vacherie, Aubert said, “Sometimes you just find yourself in a place and listening to someone in need. I want to try and do what I can for them. Parents said they wanted an option for their children who were having to attend failing schools.”

Aubert said the charter school offers parents another approach to public education.

“The students are happy here and they like school,” she said. “I’ve come this far and have been through a lot. The hardest part, I think, is over.”

Story by Pamela Folse.