The Peoples Health Champions Program honored Joseph “Big Chief Monk” Boudreaux on Sept. 9, 2018, during the New Orleans Saints game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for preserving Mardi Gras Indian culture and traditions. Boudreaux was recognized because on Sept. 30, 2016, he took the stage before an international audience in Washington, D.C., and told of Mardi Gras Indian traditions and how they’ve evolved to meet today’s world. The event was put on by the National Endowment for the Arts, which had given Boudreaux a National Heritage Fellowship. Boudreaux is committed to sharing the wisdom he’s gained through life experience and to passing down Mardi Gras Indian traditions to younger generations.
