Sempra Infrastructure Targets Community Needs

When Sempra Infrastructure began rethinking its social investment approach in 2024, the goal was to better understand what Southwest Louisiana communities needed most and how the company could better use its resources to help meet critical needs in the community. 

Over the course of a year, the company spent time listening to residents, community leaders and local non-profits. Their priorities were clear: stronger economic opportunity, better access to essential resources and continued care for the environment and local ecosystems to ensure coastal resiliency. 

Those conversations shaped a new giving framework in 2025, focused on three areas: economic prosperity, increasing opportunity, and climate action and biodiversity. The strategy now guides Sempra Infrastructure’s community grants, partnership program and sponsorships across Beauregard, Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, with an emphasis on long-term solutions to address local needs. In 2025, Sempra Infrastructure invested $715,000 in non-profits, schools and community-based organizations across Southwest Louisiana. 

As those investments took shape, one local challenge rose quickly to the surface: food insecurity. 

Across Louisiana, one in six people struggle to access enough food. In rural Cameron Parish, the problem is compounded by distance and limited access to grocery stores. In Hackberry, a community of fewer than 900 residents, those barriers are part of daily life. 

Care Help of Sulphur has long worked to support families facing temporary emergencies through its free choice food pantry, which allows individuals to select groceries based on their needs. Executive Director Jody Farnum had long hoped to expand that model into Hackberry and West Cameron Parish, bringing food access closer to families who needed it most. 

“When Sempra Infrastructure asked what our dream project would be for Cameron Parish, we told them we wanted to open a pantry that could serve families right in their own community,” Farnum said. “Their support helped us bring food access to Hackberry and West Cameron Parish in a way that truly meets people where they are.” 

That vision became reality through Sempra Infrastructure’s partnership program, which provided $100,000 to help Care Help transform part of the former Hackberry Community Center into the Hackberry Food Pantry. The space was outfitted with refrigerators, shelving and stocked supplies. Since opening in September, the pantry has fed 463 community members.   

For Jeanne Willson, community outreach advisor for Sempra Infrastructure and a Hackberry resident, the project is personal. 

“When I asked Jody to share a dream she had always wanted to pursue, she immediately said she wanted to open a food pantry in Hackberry so West Cameron Parish residents could access food close to home,” Willson said. “With our investment, and support from Brown’s Grocery Store and the Hackberry Recreation District, that dream became a reality. As someone who lives here, it means a lot to see families supported right in our own community.” 

Through its reimagined social investment strategy, Sempra Infrastructure continues to focus on social investments that respond to real needs and strengthen the communities where it operates.