Editor's note: This is the second in a series on the six chosen as part of the annual Women Who Mean Business awards by the United Way of Acadiana. For tickets, visit bit.ly/womenwhomeanbusiness2024.
Solomon House began in the 1980s in New Iberia as an outreach program. What started as food drives to get people back up on their feet turned into transportation services, firsthand discussions with students in the classroom and immense aid for the community.
Executive director Ellen Nora has a passion for serving those around her. Raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Nora has been volunteering at churches since she was young. She describes the community she grew up in as a “team.”
“If someone we knew was sick or just had a baby, my family and I would go in and take care of them,” she said. “We would wash their clothes and cut their grass. I’ve always been raised in this type of helpful environment.”
Nora is among six women to be honored at the Women Who Mean Business awards presented by Home Bank and hosted by the United Way of Acadiana. A banquet will be at 5:30 p.m. May 9 at The Jefferson, 500 Jefferson St.
Nora volunteered at The National Head Start Association as a board member and was the parish administrator for the Episcopal House of the Epiphany Church. Since joining Solomon House, she’s been on a mission to build a sustainable non-profit to last through the ages.
In 2022, she was named Citizen of the Year by The Daily Iberian.
“The vision of Solomon House is to keep our finger on the pulse of the community,” Nora said. “We’re trying not to give people what they think they need but to actually be so in tune with them that we know exactly what to provide.”
Solomon House recently partnered with the Department of Children and Family services for The Family Empowerment Exposition, which connects people with resources they might not know exists.
“We offered lessons on conflict-resolution problem solving, basic financial management, consequences of choices for teens and much more,” Nora said.
Nora also reached out to schools in New Iberia to host class discussions about spikes in gun violence. Principals worried about how effective this would be. Nora understood and promised to stick to her goal — make long-lasting change in her community.
“Our desire is longevity,” Nora said. “Especially when dealing with children because if they’re not dealing with the same person about an ongoing issue, they end up telling the same story over and over again.”
Just as Nora grew up in a very helpful community, she aims to pass that lifestyle on to her seven children. It was important for them to see how to help others around them, and now she says almost all of them are in some type of community work.
As for Solomon House, Nora is proud of its progress and that she gets to do what she loves the most — helping those around her through volunteer work.
“I recognize that all we do is because of the people in the community and my volunteers,” Nora said. “There’s nothing I could have done by myself. I feel that this award is more theirs than mine.”