It Takes a Village Like New Orleans
We all love making resolutions for the new year. Who hasn't signed up for a gym membership? Bought a kayak? Gone in for their annual checkup? Called old friends?
January is the month we get it together. But how often do those new interests become year-long habits? Maybe if the things we chose to do brought us joy and pride and didn't require too much sweating, we'd have a better shot at continuing them, integrating those endorphins into our daily, weekly, or monthly routines instead of waiting until January of 2025 to do them again.
There are so many volunteer opportunities throughout the city. Here's a few ideas that, even if you just do them once, will be a big help to the community, and if you keep doing them, might make your life and the lives around you just a little bit better.
Stock Your Local Community Fridge
Those of us that can regularly afford food often have extra. I'm looking at you, Costco Club card holders. Did you prepare for a hurricane that never came? Did you make your favorite dish so many times that you can no longer stomach it? Did you cook for an army when you're only an army of two?
All around the city, there are Community Fridges that need to be stocked. This miracle of mutual aid, when properly provided, ensures that people don't go hungry. Access to food is the bare minimum for survival. There is no one who doesn't deserve balanced meals and proper nutrition. Whether you are able to stock prepared meals or just an occasional cereal box, it can make a difference. As their mission states, "No one is fed, until everyone is fed."
If you've got a car, try swinging by the pantries that are understocked, where the need is the highest. If you're walking, there are 16 fridges throughout the city. Find the closest fridge to you at nolacommunityfridges.org.
Volunteer at the Roots of Music
The Roots of Music is an afterschool program focused on music education that provides 2,500 hours of classes, 30,000+ balanced hot meals, and 1,400 bus pickups and dropoffs every single year. They've been going strong for 15 years now and have changed the lives of thousands of kids aged 9-14. You've undoubtedly seen them at a second line, looking fresh in their uniforms and filling the air with that brass band energy.
If you love what they do, there are so many ways that you can get involved. Besides donating, if you're 18 or older, you can: help students with their homework, enhance their social skills, assist the administrative team, or even teach music classes. If you've got a spare instrument laying around, they're always looking for more. You can donate supplies from their Amazon wishlist, and, if you've got technical skills, fixing up broken instruments is a great way to lend a hand. Follow their beautifully curated socials and keep an eye out for events and fundraisers. There's no reason that volunteering shouldn't be fun.
Play with Some Puppies
If you've always wanted a dog or a cat but live in an apartment that doesn't allow pets, you can still scratch that itch. Nearly every shelter needs dog-walkers or people to come play with the animals and let them out of their cages. Volunteering to take a dog to an adoption event or transport an animal from a kill shelter to a place where they've got a shot at a happy life really helps. Take Paws' Stray Café even lets you borrow shelter dogs to bring to coffee shops while you work, so that the pups can get outside time and meet potential adopters.
If you can have pets where you live, but aren't sure you're ready for a lifelong commitment, consider fostering. Young puppies and kittens who haven't had their vaccines yet or animals recovering from an illness or an operation especially need to be in a home until they find their forever place. Your life will be enriched for however long you have a furry companion. There's no shortage of rescues in this city. Contact the Humane Society, Louisiana SPCA, Zeus' Rescues, Villalobos, ARNO, Trampled Rose Rescue & Rehab, New Orleans Bulldog Rescue, Cane Haven, or go on PetFinder.com and find the adoption center closest to you.
Plant a Tree; We Need 100K More
What does planting a tree do? It adds more oxygen, of course, and makes more habitats for birds and other forms of wildlife, definitely. But did you know that it also helps lower the heat index, sequesters carbon, mitigates flooding, and removes pollutants from the air? As the summers get noticeably hotter, the city's reforestation plan, announced in January of 2023, is to plant an extra 100,000 trees by 2040.
There are several organizations where you can volunteer to make our city a greener place. Check out NOLA Tree Project, Soul NOLA (Sustaining Our Urban Landscape), become a member of Friends of the Lafitte Greenway, or volunteer at your local community garden, Audubon Park, City Park, or one of the 200 smaller parks or squares throughout the city.
Friend the NOPL
There are 15 libraries throughout New Orleans and not even half of enough funding to go around. Free and accessible knowledge to everyone, at every age, is essential for development. Friends of the New Orleans Public Library is an organization that provides grants, recruits volunteers, and sponsors the Summer Fun Program, Children's Book Week, adult programs, and creative writing workshops.
They also provide 100,000 books annually to schools, hospitals, prisons, shelters, and other spaces in the community that need them. On a related note, if you've got books on your shelves that are just collecting dust, use them to help stock the little community libraries peppered throughout town.
Check Out Volunteermatch.org
There are 400+ organizations in need of help through Volunteermatch.org. You can sort by area of interest (i.e.: disaster relief, employment, arts and culture, environment, hunger, homelessness, health and medicine). You can sort by type of community in need: veterans, LGBTQ+, seniors, children, youth, and/or people with disabilities.
There are opportunities for every skill set and background. It's impossible not to find something that's a meaningful match for you. Use the new year to make a difference.
