Remembering Arlene Meraux: A Legacy Still Shaping St. Bernard Parish
Twenty-two years ago, St. Bernard Parish lost one of its most devoted champions, Arlene Meraux. Her passing in 2003 marked the end of a remarkable life, but the beginning of a legacy that continues to guide the parish forward.
When Arlene founded the Meraux Foundation, she asked her niece, Rita, to manage it with one clear instruction: use the land Arlene transferred to the foundation to improve the quality of life in St. Bernard. That simple principle still guides the work of the Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation.
Today, under the leadership of Board President Rita Gue and directors Floyd Gue, Bill Haines, Chris Haines, and Sidney Torres III, the Meraux Foundation continues to follow Arlene’s vision through a strategy centered on land use, education, the environment, economic development, arts and culture, and community resilience.
For more than a decade, the board has carried this mission forward. The Foundation has donated land for public needs such as the parish hospital and sheriff’s substation. It has made impact investments that support local economic growth and has used its property to fund scholarships and community programs.
Education remains at the heart of the foundation’s work. It awards 75 students in St. Bernard Parish Public Schools scholarships annually. The foundation also donated land for Arlene Meraux Elementary School, ensuring generations of children have access to a strong public education.
The Foundation is also a major supporter of the arts. It contributed $1.8 million to build the Cultural Arts Center at Chalmette High School. It also sponsors the St. Bernard Performing Arts Academy to help young people hone their creative talents.
The Foundation invests in projects that protect and restore the environment. This includes preparing students for careers in coastal and environmental fields, planting marsh grass, and helping design major restoration efforts. These projects protect both the land and the community that depends on it.
The people of St. Bernard have always been resilient. Through targeted recovery and resilience donations, and through creative projects like developing an arts campus along St. Claude Avenue, the Foundation continues to support that strength and help build a vibrant, sustainable future.
More than two decades after her passing, Arlene Meraux’s vision continues to make a real difference in the classrooms, businesses, cultural spaces, and natural landscapes of St. Bernard Parish. Her legacy lives on in every opportunity the Meraux Foundation helps create.