ROUSES_Winter2023_Magazine Pages-web

Donny Rouse, CEO and Rev. Mario E. Dorsonville bishop of Houma-Thibodaux's Catholic diocese at the groundbreaking of the new Bayou Region Warehouse in Houma.

we walk through it, Jayroe shows me the large pallets of dry product being staged for the next morning’s run. Turnaround happens quickly. The trucks arrive each morning at 5:30, and by 7:30, are on the roads. The facility meanwhile receives eight truck loads or so of food per day. Everything is tracked and organized with a barcode management system. The disaster-prone community counts on the donations coming in and going out. But those disasters aren’t limited to hurri canes. “We started to talk about hunger as an everyday disaster, whether it affects a single child or an entire community affected by storms or downturns,” says Jayroe. “And so we ask, what can Second Harvest do best? We look at what we’ve got. We have capacity. We have a warehouse. We have freezers, coolers, kitchens. We have trucks. So how do we make sure that we’re using this capacity that we have, as completely as we possibly can, to strengthen commu nities? We are not thinking about it just in terms of how many pounds of food we can put out. We are asking who we can partner with that helps build resilience throughout South Louisiana.” Its partnership with Feeding America, the largest nonprofit network in the entire country, has been invaluable. The group is an umbrella for 200 food banks around the country. “The great thing about the Feeding America network is that it’s very

parishes, and Grand Isle. In addition, volunteers will use a 3,400-square-foot kitchen to prepare as many as 3,000 meals per day — an urgent need in the Bayou region, where 10,000 children and 20,000 adults face hunger. The work doesn’t stop there. Rouses Markets, the official supermarket of the New Orleans Saints, has teamed up with the black and gold to run a community program to help address food insecurity in the city. The Tackle Hunger initiative brings together Saints players and fans through food drives. With support from such organizations as the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, Tackle Hunger reflects a broader collaborative effort, blending sports, community engage ment and corporate responsibility to mitigate hunger and foster communal support during challenging times. Rouses’ efforts, and those of the community, are not misplaced. The 18-bay loading dock of the Second Harvest facility could rival any major warehouse program in the world. As

collected goods toward those in need. Hunger relief is embedded in the business ethos of Rouses Markets, and also appears through various fundraising initiatives, such as Frozen Food Month, Ice Cream Month and Family Meals Month. Through these campaigns, Rouses Markets keeps food and funds flowing to the frontlines of the battle against hunger. Manning says Rouses is “very generous in providing unpurchased food resources to make sure food does not go to waste. We would not be able to reach as many families as we do without their support.” These goods flowing from Rouses are found, among many other places, at a 17,000-square-foot warehouse in the heart of Rouses country, on S. Hollywood Rd. in Houma, which was opened recently by Second Harvest and the Diocese of Houma Thibodaux and is set to begin operations soon. They built it to manage more fresh food and pantry stables than ever before for Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary

Rouses Markets, the official supermarket of the New Orleans Saints, has teamed up with the black and gold to run a community program to help address food insecurity in the city. The Tackle Hunger initiative brings together Saints players and fans through food drives.

34 ROUSES WINTER 2023