Levee Pantry Press Release

LEVEE FOOD PANTRY TO OPEN IN THE LOWER NINTH WARD ON NOVEMBER 17th

Longtime Community Partners Anchor a New Community Resource in the Neighborhood in Response to Pandemic and Long Term Disaster Recovery Needs

New Orleans, LA: A brand new brick-and-mortar food pantry for Orleans Parish residents will be opening in the Lower Ninth Ward on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, thanks to the collaborative efforts of lowernine.org, Common Ground Relief, and Second Harvest Food Bank.

Launched in March with support from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s COVID Disaster Recovery Fund as a mobile food pantry, and operating with donated food and volunteers, the Levee Food Pantry was created in direct response to the Lower Ninth Ward community’s needs resulting from the economic crisis following the pandemic and ensuing state-wide shutdown. With many businesses resorting to layoffs, furloughs, reductions of hours, or closing permanently, residents around the state have been left struggling to pay rent, mortgages, and utilities, and have been unable to provide food for their families.

Seeing this glaring need, and acting quickly to fill the gaps, Second Harvest Food Bank New Orleans partnered with lowernine.org to establish a temporary biweekly mobile food distribution in the Lower Ninth Ward. According to Laura Paul, lowernine.org’s Executive Director, “Our partnership with Second Harvest and now Common Ground Relief is one that will benefit the Lower Ninth Ward community not only with increased access to food during these difficult times, but with an entirely new access point in an otherwise forgotten food desert neighborhood still fighting its way back from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing levee breaches 15 years ago. We are thrilled that the Levee Food Pantry will be able to serve not only Lower Ninth Ward residents, but any Orleans Parish resident who needs this support. At our mobile unit, we partnered with CORE for free COVID-19 testing, and with HeadCount for voter registration. We will continue to provide relevant and necessary wraparound services in our new community facility to support this crucial food security work.”

In just eight months at the mobile site, the collaborative has distributed over 130,000 pounds of food, and served over 4,500 individual clients. The permanent brick and mortar Levee Food Pantry in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood will be invaluable, and comes following a prolific hurricane season, ongoing storm damage to residential properties, and the continued crippling economic and health impacts of COVID-19. It is a bright spot for a community that has seen many hardships this year. To donate, please click on the donation button below, and to volunteer, email volunteer@lowernine.org.