Spring Recap

Happy Pride Month, everyone!  We’re so thrilled to update you on what we did all Spring and what we’ve got planned for the rest of the summer. 

We’re first and foremost proud to say that over 2,000 Resource Pamphlets have been distributed so far in New Orleans at community centers, schools, churches, shelters and on the street.  Below is a non-exhaustive list of some of the locations now equipped with our pamphlets, and we can’t wait to get more and more distributed! 

Andrew P. Sanchez Community Center; Treme Recreation Center; Stailling Community Center; Rosenwald Recreation Center;

Milne Recreation Center; Corpus Christ Community Center; St. Bernard Community Center; German Brown Community Center;

Annunciation Center; North Rampart Community Center; Central City Community Outreach; Ozanam Shelter;

Celebration Church 9th Ward; St. Augustine Catholic Church; Greater Grace Center; Crowder Boulevard Church;

Glory Home Church; Gentilly Baptist Church; Franklin Baptist Church; St. Paul Church;

Church of Christ, Nola East; The Upper Room Bible Church; Household of Faith Church; Next level Church of Christ;

Mildred OSborne School; New Orleans East Hospital; Ochsner Baptist; University Medical Center;

Rapid Urgent Care; Benjamin Franklin High School; The Willow School; New Orleans Center;

Morris Jeff Community School; Warren Easton High School; Eleanor McMain School; Frederick A Douglass High School;

Living School; GW Carver High School'; Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School ; Walter L. Cohen High School;

Booker T Washington High School; LB Landry High School 

We’d like to get as many more prints in as possible before the end of the year when we update the pamphlets for 2026 to make sure that all these locations (and more!) have a sufficient supply.  We’ll also be taking feedback from leaders at these institutions as well as recipients of the pamphlets to make sure we make any changes necessary to improve the quality of the pamphlets and make it as easy as possible for folks to seek whatever help they need.  

We’re also working to finish the San Francisco Resource Pamphlets so that we can officially launch that program in the Bay as well.  This brings us to our next topic, which is the happy hour fundraiser we’ll be using to collect funds for the SF Pamphlet Print as well as expanding our Shelter and Unhoused Support Program.  

The happy hour will be taking place at El Rio from 4-7pm on Friday, July 11.  So long as we get 30 people to show up for us (people who just happen to be at the bar at that time don’t count), El Rio will donate 30% of the total happy hour proceeds to Mother Angela’s.  As of right now, we have 37 people RSVP’d “yes” and 12 “maybes.”  We’re hoping to get at least 40 in the solid yes category to leave room for last-minute no-shows (it happens), so if you’re in the bay and can come and/or bring people, that would be wonderful!  The flyer is pictured below, and here is the full invite link to RSVP and view the event description: https://partiful.com/e/RLqFuTwnk0KnU1eHfGTs 

In addition to the proposed program expansions mentioned in the invite, we’re also introducing a new branch of the Shelter & Unhoused Support Program, which we’ll be offering as a service to SF shelters: Support Groups for Chronically Ill residents.  The Felicia Flames House will be our first client, and we’re presently in the process of scheduling out the sessions.  The groups will combine harm reduction elements like community building, narcan & safer use education; resource sharing (via the Resource Pamphlets, tangible supplies like water bottles, and anecdotally), and a chance to commiserate and encourage each other through the tiresome long term battles with chronic illness.  

I’m so excited to get this off the ground and learn from these first 6 sessions with Felicia Flames House how we can improve the support group to best meet the needs of shelter residents facing chronic health challenges.  The idea, hopefully, will be to give the shelters a structure for a support group they can continue on their own after the initial few sessions.  Because FF House is paying us a stipend for the sessions and to support the Resource Pamphlets print, this part of the SUS program has the potential to become a supportive element for funding all of our programs.  

Check out Lyric, the parent org of Felicia Flames House (which is brand new), here: https://lyric.org/ .

Back to New Orleans for a moment before we wrap up this post: we’ve begun Community Event microprogramming with the simplest iteration of our full vision: mutual aid.  We’re collecting clothes, canned goods, toiletries and more from the wealthier neighborhoods and passing them out outside corner stores, Walmart, community centers, churches and wherever else we can reach folks without disrupting the flow of their lives.  We can’t wait until we have the funds and manpower to throw full-scale events, but we’re happy to be facilitating mutual aid in New Orleans, where (much like many US cities) the wealth gap often feels like a canyon.  

Wishing all of you a happy summer, and thank you so much for sticking with us as we navigate the growth of our programs and quest to disrupt the health-wealth feedback loop.  We’re busier than ever right now, and are so appreciative of your support.