Notes

Fundraiser By Red Beans
Feed The Front Line Nola

Before the COVID-19 lockdown, Familias Unidas was supporting 80 families. The group put up posters around town and people are contacting them directly for supplies, which volunteers are delivering. Some groups that have stepped up, like Familias Unidas, were already doing this work. Others, like the NOLA Tree Project, were doing entirely different work.

As the krewe grew, it's growth model became creating copies of itself - a new bean parade in another neighborhood. Today, there are three bean-parades, 450 krewe members, and around 15,000 spectators each Lundi Gras. The first parade was attended by no spectators - but the 25 initial krewe members and their brass band had a great time parading on Lundi Gras.

The Sweetgreen Impact Outpost Fund was launched in partnership with Jose Andres’ non-profit World Central Kitchen to deliver free Sweetgreen to hospital workers and other medical personnel. Pizza vs. Pandemic is an initiative by Slice Out Hunger, Slice and Pizza to the Polls that helps independent pizzerias supply delicious pizzas to frontline workers at hospitals, clinics, shelters and other care centers. ‍The Bean Coin, their most recent initiative, was created with a goal to save the neighborhood bars of New Orleans by creating a prepaid bar tab redeemable at local businesses all over the city.

We would very much like to keep this going - esp. because.... There's no movie star or famous person behind this effort... One organization in Austin, TX attributes homelessness to a ‘catastrophic loss of community,’ so they set out to build one.

The New Orleans Musicians Clinic & Foundation will help with identifying those individuals in need to participate in both aspects of the program. Reporter Emily Woodruff shares weekly updates and insights on local health news, including COVID coverage and medical research. Feed the Frontline NOLA is uniting eclectic individuals in New Orleans to achieve the common goal of feeding first responders and keeping the city’s vibrant restaurants in business. Familias Unidas depends on donations and volunteers to purchase, pack and deliver boxes of culturally relevant food. It was founded in 2018 to create a safety net for people arriving to the U.S. who didn’t have any housing or support.

A staff worker from the French Quarter restaurant Justine loads ready-to-eat meals to be delivered to medical staff at Ochsner Health Center West Bank. Feed the Front Line NOLA is buying $20,000 worth of food from local restaurants every day to feed to hospital staff. “Feed the Front Line NOLA ended because we were spending $30,000 a day, and the donations kind of stopped coming in,” says De Wulf. “We were not able to sustain it on the level we had been, but we're still buying food sometimes for hospital workers.

In the end, the lucky winner won $10,000 for wearing a mask on the streets of New Orleans. In total, 3,500 masks and 600 raffle tickets were given out! Two weeks after their public health intervention mask-wearing increased 19% overall and in some areas, they saw mask-wearing nearly double in areas of the city that also had the highest COVID-positive rates. Kyle Fehrenbach, a sound engineer who was laid off from multiple jobs with the shutdown of bars and restaurants nationwide, delivers ready-to-eat meals for medical staff at Ochsner Medical Center West Bank in New Orleans. Kyle Fehrenbach, a sound engineer who was laid off from multiple jobs with the shutdown of bars and restaurants nationwide, delivers ready-to-eat meals for over-worked medical staff at Oschner Medical Center West Bank .

How The South's Beloved Commander's Palace Is Feeding New Orleans' Frontline Heroes

In the span of seven weeks, the effort brought in approximately $1 million in donations, which paid for more than 100,000 meals and snacks for healthcare workers. At one point, the group was spending close to $30,000 daily at local restaurants, buying several thousand meals, snacks and coffees from a rotating collection of them each day. African and African-American traditions continued throughout the "Code Noir" and Jim Crow eras in New Orleans. African-Americans formed Benevolent Societies and "Social, Aid & Pleasure Clubs" because white Insurance companies often refused to cover free people of color and/or the formerly enslaved. SAPCs assisted members through illness and supported families with burial costs for deceased members. This is a carry-over from African traditions that believed in celebrating the member's spirit leaving the body to return to the ancestors and God.

Reporter Emily Woodruff shares weekly updates and insights on local health news, including COVID coverage and medical research. A grassroots effort to support independent New Orleans restaurants during the coronavirus shutdowns has come to an end, though its blueprint is now being applied to other parts of the city’s cultural landscape. Epidemics from yellow fever and cholera to the 1918 flu pandemic have tragically impacted New Orleans over the past 300 years. These periods of crisis have had a profound impact on the economic and emotional well-being of the city and region. As the most significant public health crisis in over a century, the COVID-19 pandemic is no different. The city has endured a heartbreaking loss of human life, the interruption of cherished traditions, and deep economic hardship.

In 2010, the opening scene in the pilot episode, as well as the season one finale of the HBO series Tremé featured a Second Line parade and journalists championed second line culture. The Second Line culture has maintained a dedicated, organized schedule throughout the history of SAPCs in New Orleans with clubs enjoying annual parades on their selected dates with those events contributing to the local economy. The clubs never lost their African-based traditions and mores and immediately restored their scheduled parades as soon as New Orleans reopened to its citizens after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Tax deductible contributions to Feed the Second Line can be made directly to Krewe of Red Beans, a 5013 organization. The fraternal order of police and the firefighters association both say their members deserved the extra pay. Their argument centers on the fact the city is under an emergency order and City Hall workers have been told to stay home. Cops and firefighters in New Orleans will not receive emergency pay for their work handling the coronavirus pandemic. In New Orleans, Chef’s Brigade was formed swiftly after shutdowns began in March. This concept bundles local restaurants together as “brigades” to multiply their potential to feed first responders and others working in the coronavirus fight.

This African-culture-based/New Orleans phenomenon, has been captured and presented in other parts of the country; the HONK! Festival in Somerville, Massachusetts was started by the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band. Asheville, North Carolina has the Asheville Second Line Band, which marches at parades and other local events. Oakland, California has a growing Mardi Gras celebration including parades organized by the Oakland Second Line Project and the Brass Boppers. In Duluth, Minnesota The Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe hosts their annual "Run, Smelt, Run!" second line parade every spring to celebrate the smelt run. A Second Line parade was featured in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die.
Website: https://lynk.id/feedthefrontlinenola