The Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce met today at Noon at Nick’s on Main for its monthly meeting.  Chamber President, Renee Brown, asked the members to please contact herself or other Board Members about new ideas that the Chamber can be involved with.  She asked that if you see things in other parishes that could benefit the Ville Platte Chamber or have any topics that can be explored to please volunteer them. 

Guest Speaker was Necole Fruge Courville, President of Every Paw Animal Rescue.   She spoke regarding their efforts to rescue animals in Evangeline Parish.  She stated that their organization has placed over 400 dogs so far and they continue to need volunteers to help “foster” dogs until they can be adopted.  She stated they are still in need of donations to help with vaccinations, food, housing, spay and neutering costs and other services needed for the animals.  You can log onto their website at www.eparinc.com to see how you can help or to reach them.  There is a tremendous need in our area to help the animals and she commented they are currently working on a program to educate children in our school system about animal abuse, etc.  She said the public really has no idea how many times someone will move away from a residence and leave a pet behind…even locked inside of a dwelling.  Her organization helps with those issues as well.  She stated they had approximately 5 of those type of calls last month alone.

Stephanie Ware with KVPI spoke regarding some exciting things happening at KVPI.  She stated how KVPI continues to support local artists and most recently James Dupre, formerly of Bayou Chicot, now a recording artist in Nashville.  He will be releasing a new single which will be played after an interview with James tomorrow morning at 10:40 over Classic Hits 92.5.  She also announced that KVPI will be programming a new “Thursday” Edition of La Tasse de Café beginning the first week in February.  Steph then introduced the newest addition to the KVPI Team, Raquel Leblanc, who then spoke to the crowd and answered questions about herself.  Raquel has joined the Sales Team at KVPI.

Eddie Mashini, the new owner of Nick’s on Main, was introduced and announced to the crowd that the restaurant will no longer close at 2:00 p.m. but will be open all day and now on Sundays from 11:00 – 3:00 to serve those attending church and others.  They also now deliver.  He said he is excited about the changes that will be coming to the restaurant.