By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

DESTREHAN – At 5:30 a.m. on the morning of May 23, Destrehan resident Erick St. Amant did what he does every morning – grabbed a cup of coffee and flipped on the morning news.

It was the morning after a deadly tornado plowed through the town of Joplin, Mo., killing more than 100 and destroying entire neighborhoods in its path. He said the devastation he was seeing “pulled at his heart,” and he felt he had to do something to help.

St. Amant and his wife Pat began mulling over ways to help the community, and as it turns out, the answer was closer than they thought. Pat’s son, Randy Roth, who lives in Covington but is president of a company with a base in St. Louis, relayed a story about an office worker in St. Louis named Cami Bell whose family lost two members and multiple homes in the tornado.

The St. Amants, members of the senior citizen social club Oldies But Goodies, got together with fellow members and proposed the idea of adopting Bell’s family. The group began raising money during its monthly dance and potluck dinner.

“Our group is not capable of repairing houses or picking up trash, but we are all capable of raising money,” said Erick St. Amant. “When our group is committed to something we attack it, and usually have great success with it.”

Once the plan was in place, the St. Amants fashioned a bucket with a Joplin, Mo., sign attached. With a little less than one month of collecting under its belt, the social group of about 100 members has collected roughly $2,000 for the cause.

“We have no set goal in place for this,” St. Amant said. “I think we would like to see maybe $5,000 or more, but whatever we can get will go a long way to helping this family get back on their feet. We are a generous group and we live in a generous community.”

The Joplin family project is the most recent of several fundraisers orchestrated by the Oldies But Goodies group. Pat St. Amant said the group has raised money for the American Cancer Society in the past as well as organized a Thanksgiving food drive.

“When we do the food drive, our members come in with huge bags of food,” she said. “We love to have a good time, but we also love to give when the moment arrives.”

Pat St. Amant said the Oldies but Goodies group got started about five years ago as a way to encourage social activity among senior citizens in the region. She said the monthly dances are often wildly popular and attract residents from all over the region.

“This isn’t just for St. Charles Parish,” she said. “We have members that come from St. John, Metairie, New Orleans and Westwego. People have come, met at our dances and are now close friends.”

The St. Amants said proceeds and donations from the June and July dances will go toward the fund, along with an additional $1,000 from the Oldies but Goodies account. Donations can be made at any Capital One Bank, or mailed to P.O. Box 1282 Destrehan, LA 70047. For more information about the fundraiser or the Oldies but Goodies club, contact Erick or Pat St. Amant at 985-764-9402.