New Orleans is a city that tends to capture many people’s hearts and souls. Whether you’ve been here your whole life or just landed here a few days ago, we must remember that New Orleans can sometimes be a hard place to live. When Mardi Gras is over, and there is no festival to attend, we still have a city that needs its citizens to be involved and active – more than just during the good times. We came up with some ways to be a better New Orleanian.
Cook for or donate to the New Orleans Community Fridges
These fridges were a grassroots effort to feed people in our community. This program relies on people to be fridge keepers, artists to paint the storage sheds for them, builders of the sheds and platforms, and the people who donate.
We try to make food and donate to these fridges regularly. If you’d like to help, check out our Amazon list. We get everything donated across the city to various community fridges.
Become a Mentor
Southeast Louisiana’s chapter of Volunteers of America offers a mentoring program for the kids of incarcerated adults. You would provide attention, guidance, and hope for at-risk tweens and teens.
Son of a Saint is also a great local program that helps mentor boys growing up without fathers. They are highly regarded and always need more people to help!
Volunteer with NORD
There are so many ways to help out NORD! You can help with events, the rec centers, football coaching, booster clubs, and more. With some of these opportunities only being needed seasonally, you can help out even with limited time constraints.
Help the Youth Empowerment Program
The Youth Empowerment Program was started to help formerly incarcerated youths transition back into normal life. Today, they have expanded and now support young people who have experienced trauma, live in poverty, or are out of work or school.
They offer many different programs and are filling unmet needs in the community. This is a great group to help support or volunteer with!
Photo courtesy of NORD
Second Harvest Food Bank
Whether you can only offer to drop off canned goods and shelf-stable foods or if you can spend a few hours helping to sort cans – Second Harvest needs everything they can get! They help feed people throughout the year and step up to the plate for disasters in Southeast Louisiana, too.
Become a monthly donor to Beanlandia
You can become a monthly donor to Beanlandia, aka Krewe of Red Beans, for as little as $1 a month. The money is put into their sister project, Feed the Secondline, and other projects they are working on. Feed the Secondline helps culture bearers of this city by purchasing groceries and other essentials for them. They also create job opportunities and general support for these culture bearers. You should definitely check them out!
There are so many worthy causes throughout the city of New Orleans, and we are sad we only have the space to share a few. You can always do smaller things too – like pick up trash around your neighborhood, don’t cut over at the last second at the Westbank/Claiborne exit, or clean a catch basin on your block.
Let this small guide inspire you to find other ways to make New Orleans an even better place to live. It takes a village, friends. Let’s be better New Orleanians.
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