The new frontline of food relief in New Orleans

Many of the New Orleanians responding to the COVID-19 disaster by starting food relief programs don’t think of it as charity. They think of it as solidarity. Mutual aid.

Jasmine Araujo, founder of the group Southern Solidarity in New Orleans, explains mutual aid as “a reciprocal exchange.”

“[We] wish to highlight that our well-being is tied to that of most exploited person in the country,” she said. “When those forced to the margins are provided with what they need, the nation as a whole prospers.”

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. And others didn’t even exist before the coronavirus hit. They came together in the crisis to do what Araujo describes as “centering care and tenderness” to their neighbors.

New Orleans’ mutual aid efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic mirror what Rebecca Solnit describes in her book “A Paradise Built in Hell,” about how communities respond during disasters:

“An emergency is a separation from the familiar, a sudden emergence into a new atmosphere, one that often demands we ourselves rise to the occasion. … You can think of the current social order as something akin to artificial light: another kind of power that fails in disaster. In its place appears a reversion to improvised collaborative, cooperative, and local society.”

This work provides a glimpse into our collaborative, local society. New Orleanians are indeed rising to the occasion.

New Orleans COVID-19 Mutual Aid

New Orleans COVID-19 Mutual Aid is distributing groceries, toilet paper and cleaning supplies.

The group put up posters around town and people are contacting them directly for supplies, which volunteers are delivering.

They are distributing 20 boxes a day, and the label on every box of food reads:

“We are all we really have”

“All we have is each other”

*Joe Krafczynski volunteers with the group New Orleans COVID-19 Mutual Aid to deliver food boxes. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 28, 2020. (Photo by Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

Cyndi Nguyen

Cyndi Nguyen, New Orleans City Council member, and her staff are distributing baby food, diapers and food items across New Orleans East to those who have requested assistance. Ngyuen says their work varies everyday, but they’re doing this kind of relief work “eight days a week” right now.

Monica Rainey, a member of Cyndi Nguyen’s staff, unloads baby food, diapers and other food items they are delivering directly to those who have requested assistance. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 28, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)

Cyndi Nguyen delivers diapers and other food items to Ryan Creighton’s family. They are in quarantine because they have a new baby and a senior in the family home and don’t want to risk going shopping. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 28, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)

*Cyndi Nguyen delivers diapers and other food items to Ryan Creighton’s family. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 28, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

*Ryan Creighton stands outside his family’s home. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 28, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

Elysian Meals

Elysian Meals consists of a core group of three friends and a rotating cast of volunteers who are cooking 50 to 100 meals a day right now to feed those living on the street during the COVID-19 lockdown.

They are receiving donations of ingredients from restaurants and buying food with monetary donations coming in through Venmo.

Left to right, Niki Rain, Kati Fink, Emily Morgan and Micah Sapp, volunteers with Elysian Meals, box up jambalaya to feed unhoused people on the street. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 21, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society.)

*Elysian Meals boxes up jambalaya to feed people on the street. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 21, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

*A pot of Jambalaya cooks outside Micah Sapp’s home. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 21, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

Southern Solidarity

Started by Jasmine Araujo, Southern Solidarity is a group of volunteers working out of Araujo’s home in the Marigny.

Southern Solidarity is buying, packing and delivering hot meals, blankets and clothes to people living on the street in New Orleans during the COVID-19 lockdown.

*Jasmine Araujo, right, and Sarah Sparacino package fresh fruit in Araujo’s living room. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 10, 2020 (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

*Volunteers with the group Southern Solidarity. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 10, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

*Jasmine Araujo organizes volunteers with the group Southern Solidarity at her home. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 10, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

Flowers for Food

Flower sales for Flowers For Food are happening twice a week right now. Proceeds average $500 to $750 twice a week.

The effort is a collaboration of nine women who are local farmers and flower growers.

*Flowers are sold by Maggie Kaiser to fund food relief efforts in New Orleans. April 11, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

“This is a bright spot for me, having things to do is really helpful for me,” Maggie Kaiser said. “Most of the women doing this were trying to figure out what they could do, so it is bringing people together with energy and resources to share.”

Lakeview Christian Center

Lakeview Christian Center cooks 350 meals a day with fresh ingredients, and the food is then distributed to the homebound and elderly by NOLA Tree Project volunteers.

Familias Unidas

Before the COVID-19 lockdown, Familias Unidas was supporting 80 families. This week they are providing food for 475 families.

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. The group provides temporary housing, food and other support to recent immigrants.

*Leticia Casildo, left, delivers a box of food to Ruth Argueta. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 29, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)*

Co-founder Leticia Casildo is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras.

“When I came to the U.S. 17 years ago I didn’t have anything and I didn’t have anybody. I was fleeing for my life, but I was never able to apply for asylum because of fear that I should just stay quiet and in the shadows,” she said. “That was one of the reasons we started Familias Unidas, was to help people get the information they needed to be able to apply for asylum.”

Leticia Casildo and Fernando Lopez buy food at Restaurant Depot to distribute to undocumented immigrant families in New Orleans. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 22, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)

Mario Fuentes (grey shirt) and Jorge Salazar, volunteers with the organization Familias Unidas, unload donated food which they will redistribute to undocumented immigrant families in New Orleans. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 22, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)

Volunteers with the organization Familias Unidas unload donated food which they will redistribute to undocumented immigrant families in New Orleans. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 22, 2020. (Ben Depp/National Geographic Society)

NOLA Tree Project

NOLA Tree Project is now distributing food instead of trees.

They have volunteers deliver hot meals to homebound and seniors.

Connie Uddo started NOLA Tree Project seven years ago.

“When the governor closed schools on the 13th, I saw a need for food,” she said. “I called Second Harvest and started [giving away food] on the 17th. Today we’re probably at 30,000 meals.”

Now, they’re receiving food from Second Harvest and from a local church. They served 1,200 meals April 13.