When Georgia McBride graduated from Loyola in 2006 with a degree in music industry studies, she did not foresee how committed she would be to social justice.
The social justice values that McBride, a career development coordinator for the College of Music and Fine Arts, learned as a student and employee at Loyola fostered her involvement at Crescent City Café. The café is an innovative restaurant-style breakfast kitchen that caters to the underprivileged and homeless of New Orleans with gourmet food.
McBride’s involvement in social service developed out of her need to give back to New Orleans as it was rebuilding itself post-Hurricane Katrina.
“After Katrina, I realized I wanted to be a person involved in service and not just worried about my own career. There was so much need in the city, so I decided to stay after graduation,” McBride said.
She met Kim Thompson in 2007, who came to New Orleans because of the Katrina aftermath. Thompson conceived the idea of holding a nice breakfast for the homeless staying at the New Orleans Mission.
“When I (worked) at the New Orleans Mission, I saw a need for needy people not to be perceived as invisible and a need for young people to get involved in the issue,” Thompson said.
A door of opportunity soon opened for McBride and presented itself in the form of Crescent City Cafe, slowly growing out of Thompson’s idea.
McBride and Thompson started the cafe in February 2009 along with Laura Rockett, the cafe’s chief menu planner and kitchen coordinator, and Heather Pomfret, the cafe’s fundraiser coordinator. Crescent City Cafe is open on the first Saturday of every month.
The cafe defines its mission as a way to bridge the gap between the homeless and the more privileged and to give a face to the homeless population that should not be ignored. McBride took over as volunteer coordinator for the cafe and has recruited the help of over 600 volunteers in the last three years.
“She organizes and helps recruit the volunteers that make our day-of functions possible for the cafe, since we are completely volunteer-run. She is our liaison to all of the volunteers before they come to the cafe and the friendly face they already kind of know when they get there,” Rockett said.
Volunteers also get the opportunity to sit down and talk with the homeless and hopefully gain new perspective.
McBride credits her views on service to the Jesuit mission and values she was taught during her time at Loyola.
“I always knew that it was important for people to do service, but I never realized how personally fulfilling it could be for me,” she said. “What I’ve gotten out of working at Crescent City Cafe has been ten times greater than what I’ve put into it.”
Maria Prokopetz can be reached at [email protected]
