Mission: In late 2009 the Louisiana State Government cut Food Bank financing by 4.5 million dollars. As a small food pantry this blog was created to spotlight our community and show the direct effects from such a harsh budget cut.

We work at the Community Center of St Bernard, a food pantry and Community Center 10 minutes outside of New Orleans. We feed around 70 families a day and the number of new people we serve keeps growing. The spiraling economy coupled with the state budget cut to Second Harvest has created empty shelves for needy families.

More people + less food = a big problem.

Bethany Garfield

Food Pantry Coordinator

Billy Brown

Digital Arts Service Corps (AmeriCorps for Geeks)

The following organizations are all collecting food for our pantry to supplement the reduction from our local food bank. We love them!

Nola Eats at the Alternative Media Expo

Snake and Jakes

Cold Stone Creamery

Organizing for America: LA

Curves

Do you want to be a Fabulous Food Driver? E-mail me!

Food For Our Neighbors Archives

    April 1, 2010
    Debbie “I have mixed feelings about the building, sometimes I wish they would just tear it down.” Before the levees broke, Debbie lived in an area of St Bernard called The Village Square. Fortunately, she evacuated before Hurricane Katrina struck. If she had stayed, she would have suffered the 10-20 feet of water and major fire damage that occurred in her apartment complex. Despite losing her home, Debbie decided to move back to St Bernard. She lives in a different apartment now and spends most of her days volunteering at our Community Center, helping people check in at the food pantry. Even though Village Square is barely standing now, existing as two blocks of abandoned, broken down apartments, something slightly odd will be happening there next month - a reality TV show. The whole area will be blocked off and a helicopter will fly in, dropping 10 volunteers (actors) who will have to survive for 10 weeks on nothing but their wits and hard work. I asked Debbie how she feels about the show happening where she used to live and she replied with mixed feelings. She’s very excited that Hollywood will be so close to home, but the history associated with Village Square is too much for her to handle sometimes. That aside, will she sit in her new apartment watching 10 strangers form a pseudo-society in a post-apocalyptic version of her former backyard? Definitely.

    Debbie

    “I have mixed feelings about the building, sometimes I wish they would just tear it down.”

    Before the levees broke, Debbie lived in an area of St Bernard called The Village Square. Fortunately, she evacuated before Hurricane Katrina struck. If she had stayed, she would have suffered the 10-20 feet of water and major fire damage that occurred in her apartment complex. Despite losing her home, Debbie decided to move back to St Bernard. She lives in a different apartment now and spends most of her days volunteering at our Community Center, helping people check in at the food pantry.

    Even though Village Square is barely standing now, existing as two blocks of abandoned, broken down apartments, something slightly odd will be happening there next month - a reality TV show. The whole area will be blocked off and a helicopter will fly in, dropping 10 volunteers (actors) who will have to survive for 10 weeks on nothing but their wits and hard work. I asked Debbie how she feels about the show happening where she used to live and she replied with mixed feelings. She’s very excited that Hollywood will be so close to home, but the history associated with Village Square is too much for her to handle sometimes. That aside, will she sit in her new apartment watching 10 strangers form a pseudo-society in a post-apocalyptic version of her former backyard? Definitely.

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