The Natchitoches Community Improvement Foundation presented a $5,000 check to the Natchitoches Parish Council on Aging at its annual membership meeting July 19. The grant funding will allow the COA to purchase six computer to create a computer lab in its newly constructed building. Computer classes will educate seniors on the use of technology.

Lynn MacQuarrie will volunteer her time to teach the class. She received an associates degree in computer science, a bachelors degree in sociology with a minor in anthropology and a master’s in counseling. She worked in in-home counseling as a contract worker. While she was working on her doctorate, her father’s declining health brought her home to Campti. Her father, the late John Bell of Fairview Alpha, and her mother Elinor met in California during WWII. Her mother, originally from Michigan, was working at a factory building airplanes and her father was flying them.

After moving to Natchitoches Parish a few years ago, MacQuarrie started volunteering at the COA. However, computer failure led the classes being put on hiatus. She is eager to start them back up again. “I’m just cut out to help people,” she said. “I enjoy teaching and I’ve fallen in love with the food and music in Natchitoches.”

MacQuarrie plans on developing a curriculum as the new equipment will lend itself to more structured classes.