Taylor Porter was honored to be a part of today's luncheon celebrating The Emerge Center's 2016 Baton Rouge Area Volunteer Activists, honored at The Renaissance Hotel in the 44th annual special awards ceremony. The Emerge Center is a Baton Rouge nonprofit located on the LSU Innovation Park campus that provides services for children with communication, behavior and developmental delays, as well as audiology services for all ages.

​The 2016 honorees included: Skip Bertman, Dan Borné, Dr. Doze Butler, David Faulk, Rose Marie Fife, Pam Bennett Fisher, Lane Grigsby, Scott Hensgens, Layne McDaniel and Adrienne Moore. Patrick Mulhearn received an "Activist in Action" award, while Ann Nader was a recipient of the "Margaret Neely Award." Emerge has hosted the Baton Rouge Area Volunteer Activists since 1971. The awards luncheon honors those who give of their time and talents to organizations across the community, and raises critical funds for the Center.

​In 2015, The Emerge Center served 1,119 clients in audiology services; 898 clients in speech therapy; 306 clients in psychology services; 196 clients in occupational therapy; and 88 clients in autism services. The Center performed 2,095 evaluations.

​Taylor Porter Partner and Executive Committee Member Vicki Crochet is a member of The Emerge Center Board. She has worked with other board members and Emerge Center staff and volunteers to empower children and adults to reach their greatest potential and to effectively communicate and interact. The organization has served the Baton Rouge community for more than 50 years as a beacon of hope for children, adults and their families facing communication, behavior and developmental challenges.

Crochet was a former member of the board when the organization was known as the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation. Crochet and her husband Charlie Cusimano were actively involved at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, where their daughter, Kate, attended for eight years, and Kate also attended the BRSHF for speech therapy through pre-school and middle school. Kate is now a 20-year-old junior at Xavier and worked at Emerge two summers ago where she re-connected with her long time speech therapist.