Feed the Front Line NOLA

Before Covid hit New Orleans, the Krewe of Red Beans was known for their Lundi Gras Parade. The Krewe's organizer, Devin De Wulf happens to be happily married to an ER doctor, Annelies De Wulf of University Medical Center. When COVID-19 began decimating our city, Annelies would come home and share stories of her day with her husband. The stress, the challenge of patient-care, the difficulty of COVID. On Monday March 17th, one of the first things she shared was how a nurse brought in cookies for the whole ER - and the morale boost. The idea was born, #feedthefrontline - which has now become #feedthefrontlinenola.

The Krewe of Red Beans began #feedthefrontlinenola to serve the hospital workers "food love" - and also to provide a "life-support system" for our locally-owned restaurants. We also support local musicians as paid delivery people. Currently, we have 14 on staff. Feedthefrontlinenola raises money to buy food from locally-owned restaurants and we have a safe-delivery system in place to bring the food to all hospital workers. Day 1 we were feeding 1 hospital 60$ worth of food. Today, we are feeding 13 New Orleans area hospitals with around 10,000$ worth of meals. These meals come from some of the best chefs in our city. Our city's food-scene is a cultural treasure, but many of the best spots are smaller, mom-n-pop operations - without immediate help, they will close.

New Orleans without local restaurants would be unimaginable. The hospital-heroes of our city are risking their lives to save us from COVID-19. The least we can do is make sure they never have to eat a government-issued ham sandwich. Let's keep this going - and we'll emerge from COVID a stronger city, with many of our local restaurants in-tact. Additionally, we are happy to teach anyone anywhere how to do what we are doing! www.feedthefrontlinenola.org