By DAVID VITRANO

News Editor

LAPLACE—O.J. Breech is a woman who knows how to “get it done.”

It takes only a few moments with the jovial woman to realize she has lofty goals and the drive to get them done.

Breech grew up the child of a military father, and the constant movement resulting from this situation has clearly shaped her worldview. It has opened her mind to the world beyond the River Parishes, and one of her main endeavors is to impart this outlook to the people of the region.

As the Chair and Managing Director of the River Region Multicultural Chamber of Commerce (RRMCC), Breech aims to open the local minority community’s eyes to greater possibilities, whether that means turning a home-based hair dressing business into an office-based business or turning young people on to the possibilities beyond the tri-parish area. Of, course, her hope is that they take this knowledge and use it to enrich the River Parishes in general and Louisiana as a whole.

“We have so much we can give to the country,” she gushes about her adopted home.

With all the pride she obviously has about the region, it’s hard to believe she wasn’t raised here. In fact, it wasn’t until she and her husband, who work in the industry and construction field, decided that they had had enough of traveling from Florida to the industry-heavy River Region that they finally made the move.

It didn’t take long for Breech to settle into her new environment.

She quickly became involved in the local community. She was a founding member of the River Region Chamber of Commerce, has held many positions within the St. John Business Association and was a member of the local Rotary Club.

She credits her grandmother’s involvement with the church for this particular quality.

“My grandmother was always involved in the community, always doing things for other people, so I just grew up thinking that that’s the way you should be,” she said.

It didn’t take Breech long to see that something was missing from the gamut of local business and community organizations. Thus, in 2007, she began gathering information for what would eventually become the RRMCC.

“The River Region Chamber of Commerce is an excellent organization,” she said, but to do what the RRMCC does would be retroactive for them.

Her organization breaks down the sometimes complicated world of business for the uninitiated. It teaches them the terminology and concepts they need to understand to compete effectively in the business world.

Far from being in competition with the River Region Chamber, she tries to work with that organization as much as possible so that in cooperation the two “arms,” as she put it, can best serve the community.

She says of the RRMCC’s members, “What they need is information.”

She also hope the organization can counter some of the social ills—inadequate schooling, broken homes—that plague the local minority community.

That’s why one of the main targets of the RRMCC is area youth. A partnership with the local school systems has led to 21st century afterschool programs, education initiatives and scholarship programs.

“The children are our future is not just a good line from a Whitney Houston song,” she said.

If they turn out anything like her, the River Parishes should be in good shape for years to come.