Making the grade: Looking at my preseason MLB picks
October 9, 2012Saints earn first win of the season in big day
October 9, 2012
About 100 Louisiana children made a memory that will last a lifetime this week – they got to hang out with New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Casillas.
The current Saints’ star joined Black and Gold legend Michael Lewis at this week’s Taste of the NFL Dinner Series event.
Before beautiful blue skies and comfortable temperatures, children feasted on a delicious Louisiana meal before playing pitch and catch with the current and former pro.
It was all for a good cause – proceeds from the day of fun benefitted the Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans, which helps feed those in need throughout South Louisiana.
“It was just an absolutely gorgeous day,” said Natalie Jayroe, President and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank. “Jonathan Casillas and Michael Lewis stayed with us until almost 7 o’clock playing with the kids. … This was just a special, special day and this did more than just make these kids’ day – it will be something that they remember for the rest of their lives.”
“It was wonderful,” said Darrell Guy, Director of New Orleans’ NFL YET. “To put a cherry on top of everything, the weather was just so beautiful. We had picnic benches outside of our facility, so the kids were able to eat out there and spend time with everyone. It was just wonderful – a great day.”
Taste of the NFL is a league-sponsored program designed to fight hunger within our country by combining philanthropic efforts with football.
The way the program works is simple. Each NFL team partners with a local food bank and hosts events throughout the season to raise money and awareness, while usually feeding children a warm meal.
For the New Orleans Saints, their partnership is with the Second Harvest Food Bank.
This season is especially special for the New Orleans-based group because the Super Bowl will be held in the Big Easy this year.
Taste of the NFL holds season-long events in the city hosting the big game each season to help raise funding and awareness for the cause.
It all culminates in a Super Bowl week gathering that will celebrate both football’s main event and also the charitable cause.
“When the community actually hosts the Super Bowl as we’re doing this year, then they design it to where a larger share of the proceeds stay right here in South Louisiana,” Jayroe said. “And we do a whole series of other things like dinners and other events leading up to the Super Bowl and again, all of those proceeds stay in the community, as well.”
Last Tuesday’s event fed low-income children that are a part of an afterschool program the food bank provides warm meals to.
Jayroe said 120 meals were prepared and about 100 kids turned out and enjoyed the food – a recipe provided by acclaimed Chef Tory McPhail at Commander’s Palace.
“This boys’ and girls’ program is a program that we provide with warm meals every day,” Jayroe said. “We had both boys and girls and kids from all ages. We had them from 7-and-8 all the way to 14, 15 and 16. It was so nice to see such a wide range of ages.”
“These are kids that are considered low income,” Guy said. “All of our kids participate in that way.”
Once the meal was over, the real fun began and the children were able to play games with Casillas and Lewis, while also quizzing the role models about life.
“That’s the part I like best about this – it brings together both sides of what it takes for kids to be healthy,” Jayroe said. “It brings together the good nutrition with the good meal and also the exercise. It doesn’t get better than that. The kids had a nice time.”
“The New Orleans Saints have always been so gracious to us, lending their players to us for all of our events,” Guy said. “It’s more of a motivation for our kids to keep them encouraged to succeed. We have a great partnership with the Saints. They’ve always done so much to help us. This really does mean a lot to those little boys and little girls, too. You can see it in their faces that this is a special thing for them to be able to be a part of.”
Sure, most of the fun from last Tuesday’s event was had by New Orleans children.
But the Tri-parish area is in line to see the long-term benefits from the day through enhanced funding.
Jayroe said proceeds from the event will benefit all of south Louisiana – including all of the Tri-parish area.
“We cover the whole southern part of the state from the Mississippi line all the way to the Texas border,” Jayroe said. “We seek to feed children all across the southern part of the state. We say children a lot, but it’s not just children. We serve families and anyone struggling across the state. We’re just so grateful that the Taste of the NFL is doing this for us and that we have a team like the Saints willing to lend us a hand so that we can help people.
“We all know after Hurricane Isaac that hunger is a disaster whether it’s just a single child going hungry or a whole community facing a storm or something like that, so this is something really important to us and we’re really grateful to the Saints and all of the other wonderful people who helped us.”
Two New Orleans’ children are all smiles while eating a delicious meal prepared by esteemed chef Tory McPhail of the Commander’s Palace. The meal was part of an NFL YET and Taste of the NFL event. Proceeds from the event went to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank, which services all of South Louisiana.
