COVINGTON, LA (WGNO) — Governor John Bel Edwards spent Tuesday afternoon making a pair of appearances in Saint Tammany Parish.

The governor was the featured speaker at the Covington Rotary Club’s Feeding the Needy fundraiser event.  The luncheon helps the club pay for its annual Christmas dinner program that delivers more than 1500 means, turkey and all, to people who might otherwise have to go without in Washington and Saint Tammany parishes.  Last year, the Rotary Club spent more than $50,000 on the meals.

If you’d like more information on the Feeding the Needy program, click here.  Volunteers are needed for delivery on Christmas morning.

After the luncheon, Edwards toured the mental health facility in Mandeville.  You may recall, two years ago Saint Tammany Parish put together a public-private plan to buy the property from the state.  Since then, Northlake Behavioral Health System took over private operation of much of the property, providing a variety of inpatient and outpatient mental health care.

The rest of the property is being used for the parish’s Safe Haven program that is designed to fill gaps in behavioral healthcare.

Governor Edwards calls the plan a model for the rest of the state.  He says that expansions in Medicare are providing more opportunities for people to receive behavioral health help.

“…we have to use this as an example to inspire other people to follow the example but also to show them how to do it,” the governor said.