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cut off, but you can’t cut out food. Groceries were an inescapable expense. Thus was born Feed the Second Line, a nonprofit effort to bring fresh groceries and meals to the elder cultural figures of New Orleans. In practice, the program involves a social worker checking in on vulnerable culture bearers and getting a feel for how things are going. The artist is given a pencil- and-paper shopping list of about 80 items. (The generation most in need is not the savviest with technology; low-tech is best in this case.) What food could you use for the next month or two? A freezer, fridge and pantry could be stocked for around $200 to $400. With the shopping list in tow, volunteers could do the shopping and bring the groceries back. Feed the Second Line is also a job creator. Like Feed the Front Line, Feed the Second Line employs younger local musicians to do the grocery shopping and delivery for the elder, more vulnerable musicians and artists of the community. Rouses Markets partnered right away with Feed the Second Line to make the program a success. For Rouses, local is everything. The company provided a credit line for the nascent effort, allowing it to do

they walked, 25 people in bean suits, with a shopping cart carrying a keg of beer. Hours later they were exhausted but jubilant. “We weren’t trying to be a thing,” says Devin. “We were trying to have a fun time.” They were definitely going to do it again. And they did. Again and again and again. Two on the dot every Lundi Gras afternoon. Eleven years later, the Krewe of Red Beans attracts 15,000 spectators and includes 350 members. To help manage the crowds, they’ve started three separate and simultaneous parades. “We stay true to the philosophy of a small neighborhood walking parade.” They were in their 20s when they started, and are now all in their 30s, with children. The second generation walks in the parades now, too. “It’s kid-friendly. We are all about the neighborhoods and cele- brating beans and the carnival.” While running Feed the Front Line, Devin began to worry about Al “Carnival Time” Johnson and Benny Jones. Both are in the high-risk categories for COVID-19, meaning a trip to the grocery store could be fatal. Krewe members volunteered to grocery- shop on behalf of the music icons, but the city

of New Orleans is filled with such cultural figures. In the past, every loss of someone like musician Allen Toussaint or chef Leah Chase was devastating; now, here was this virus that was specifically targeting some of the aging legends who make New Orleans what it is. Devin wondered if he could take everything he learned while building a million-dollar philanthropic effort in a matter of weeks, his experience building a huge operation like the Krewe of Red Beans from scratch, and his understanding of local culture, and build something long-term to help the culture bearers of New Orleans. “We have to protect the culture that we have,” he says. “Culture is built by people. If a Big Chief dies, they are irreplaceable.” How many walking cultural treasures do we have in the city, he wondered. What if half of them died? What would New Orleans do? Moreover, those artists were among the hardest hit economically in the pandemic’s wake. Mardi Gras was canceled. Most music venues were closed. Already, many of the city’s most notable cultural figures were from impoverished neighborhoods. Run out of money, and power and water could be

18 ROUSES JANUARY FEBRUARY 2021