Double LSUS Grad Leverages Alma Mater to Take Louisiana Non-Profit National

Geaux 4 Kids, a Louisiana non-profit based in Bossier City, works with state government and law enforcement in every parish to give “hope, home, and dignity in a bag” to the thousands of children who are taken into state custody each year due to criminal abuse and neglect.

The organization’s founder, Kaye-Celeste “KC” Kilpatrick, a double LSU Shreveport grad, returned to her alma mater and the LSUS Institute for Nonprofit Administration and Research last year to make a gameplan for national expansion. Since then, Geaux 4 Kids has grown to serve 23 counties in eastern Texas, 12 counties in southern Arkansas, and one county in Oklahoma.

The standard canvas Geaux Bags the organization packs and provides to first responders include a pillow, blanket, toiletries, pajamas and basic clothes, water and a snack, a backpack, and a note of encouragement from another child. There are custom bags for infants and teens.

“I would love to continue to grow this nationwide, to have something so positive come out of Louisiana, having started this in 2013 out of the back of my car,” said Kilpatrick, who holds both her undergraduate degree and graduate degree in non-profit administration from LSU Shreveport. “And there’s no way—no way—I could have done this without the education and support I’ve received through LSUS.”

Kilpatrick’s idea for Geaux Bags—a name she trademarked in 2015—came from a deeply personal experience when she welcomed two kids who had just been taken into state custody into her own home almost 12 years ago. They were toddlers at the time, a sister and brother from Webster Parish.

“A meth pipe in a Winn-Dixie bag, that’s how they came to me,” Kilpatrick said. “The rescuers who brought them had just scooped up whatever they could grab from the home that might have a diaper in it. That experience shocked me to my core and really made me angry—how unprepared we all were. But I saw the need and had the training to do something about it.”

“I knew I couldn’t solve addiction or poverty or mental health issues, but this was something I could do,” she added.

Having previously worked as director of development for the Salvation Army, Kilpatrick started Geaux 4 Kids by building a local support network in the Shreveport-Bossier area, partnering with Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator, who retired last March after 24 years as sheriff and 51 years in law enforcement.

“When I first met KC, she was packing and delivering Geaux Bags in the back of her van,” said Prator, who now serves as vice-chairman of the Louisiana State Pardon and Parole Board and is an LSUS Distinguished Alumni. “I was so impressed with the effort and her passion that I wanted to help in any way I could, so I loaned her the Caddo Sheriff’s work release building for storage and ‘packing parties’ for volunteers to stuff the bags. I also connected her with the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement.”

Last September, the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement awarded Kilpatrick $250,000 in justice reinvestment funds to continue her work to help victims of crime.

“We try to support programs that have proven themselves to get good results, and LSUS alumna Kilpatrick runs a very successful and efficient program,” said Jim Craft, executive director of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and an LSU Eunice graduate. “These are state dollars, so we try to make awards based on the most bang for the buck.”

“Our agency recognizes the need and demand for programs like this, because we have people reaching out all the time, ‘Hey, we could use the Geaux Bags,’” Craft continued. “The bags help agencies, too. They foster better relationships between law enforcement and the community, and that’s important, especially now.”

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services was a key partner in expanding the organization’s reach to all 64 parishes.

“Geaux 4 Kids now provides these bags to our offices statewide, and we are so thankful for the support of this and other organizations that support our foster caregivers and the children and youth in their care,” Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services David Matlock said.

“We could not do this work without them.”

David Matlock, Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services

When Kilpatrick started thinking about expanding her organization’s reach beyond Louisiana, she once again turned to LSUS and its Institute for Nonprofit Administration and Research, or INAR, the only institute dedicated to nonprofit education and research in Louisiana.

“I’d received such good training from LSUS, but realized I was in over my head,” Kilpatrick said. “What is the pathway to national expansion, exactly? How do you break that down into manageable chunks? I knew INAR knew and could show me how.”

INAR Executive Director and LSUS Associate Professor Heather Carpenter and her team provided Kilpatrick with technical assistance for capacity building—a common challenge for Louisiana’s more than 22,000 nonprofits, which have $31 billion in economic impact on the state and employ 8% of its workforce.

“We worked with KC on a model we’re now looking to replicate to help other nonprofit leaders,” Carpenter said. “Helping nonprofits improve their capacity—understanding what it takes to scale and grow—is at the heart of what we’re doing, and all of our work and consulting is backed by research.”

“I cannot imagine remotely knowing where to start without INAR and the classes I went through,” Kilpatrick said. “I think I’d be another well-meaning person, because all of this is still extremely overwhelming to me, and I’m doing it! Luckily, I can still use LSUS all the time as a resource.”

In recent years, Geaux 4 Kids has received vocal support from both Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who went to high school with Kilpatrick.

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