Super Bowl community events hope to leave lasting legacy in New Orleans, across state

For more information and the full list of event visit: NFL.com. Many events are not open to the general public. Unlike the food pantries supported by Second Harvest that provide free emergency food to people in need, the Makin’ Groceries Mobile Market will sell a wider variety of food but at a cheaper cost than a grocery store, bringing affordable food to residents who may need it.

This partnership with the NFL will sponsor the Feb. 5 event and 19 more mobile pop-ups that will be planned throughout the year, well after the Superbowl is over.

For the fourth year, the NFL will also host A Night of Pride with GLAAD, to celebrate the league’s commitment to the LGBTQ community. Big Freedia and Tank and the Bangas will perform.

“Being a part of coastal community, what makes you vulnerable is also what makes you valuable,” said Adams, who is also serving as the sustainability chair for the Super Bowl Host Committee. “So really, you’re protecting the land, you’re protecting the ecosystem and you’re protecting the culture of the people.Kyle DeVries, executive director for the Pride Center, said 50 to 60 families are expected to join from New Orleans and as far away as Mobile.

“In some communities there is a pretty big stigma around accessing emergency food that might be completely free,” said Lindsay Hendrix, chief impact officer for Second Harvest. “This is different. The groceries are discounted but they are still for sale. It just allows for community members to still have that sense of choice and autonomy and sovereignty over the food that they are purchasing for themselves and their families.”

The mobile grocery store will be a 32-foot climate controlled trailer carrying fresh produce, dry pantry staples, along with dairy and protein options. This is part of an effort to bring groceries to food deserts that started in 2021 in Acadiana and has also helped residents in Jefferson Parish.

Partner organizations include Second Harvest Food Bank, New Orleans Pride, the Pontchartrain Conservancy and several schools that will host events to plant trees and restore wetlands, celebrate LGBTQ athletes, support STEM education, and address food insecurity across the city. The NFL will also partner with Second Harvest Food Bank to bring a mobile grocery store to the Lower 9th Ward on Feb. 5 at the Sanchez Multi-Service Center on Fats Domino Avenue.

A Pride Flag Football Clinic with the New Orleans Pride Center will bring LGBTQ children and families to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to get coaching from USA Football, meet representatives from the National Gay Flag Football League, and play together.

And on Feb. 3, after a year of working with restaurants in New Orleans and Baton Rouge to collect 59 tons of oyster shells, volunteers will move them into the water in Leeville in Lafourche Parish to create a “living coastline” to help slow coastal erosion and provide a habitat for new oysters and other wildlife, said Elizabeth Adams, chief customer office with Entergy.

The gap in the cost of the food and the price consumers will pay is covered by philanthropy.

“We know we’re in the community for a short time, so we want to have some really positive leave-behinds,” said Susan Growh, associate director of NFL Green, the league’s environmental program which coordinated many of the week’s events. 

Other events will honor military veterans, highlight minority-owned businesses, create space for conversations about wealth building in the Black community, among other discussions.

“I think the goal for all of these events is to not just offset the environmental impact of the Super Bowl but to go beyond that and make things better,” Growh, with NFL Green said.”I think it’s so important right now for institutions in America — and football is so American and the NFL is so American — to be embracing and celebrating LGBTQ youth,” DeVries said. “To have this wonderful pilar of American life reach out and say ‘Hey, we want you all to be here and be yourselves and be seen… just like any other American’, I think that’s pretty powerful.”

On Feb. 1, tree planting efforts will continue at Hardin Park in the 7th Ward. The trees will be planted around the perimeter and near the playground to beautify the grounds and add shade where children play.

The series of 40 community impact events is slated to begin on Friday, Jan. 31, and run through Feb. 8.

As the snow clears and the Super Bowl nears, the NFL is working with local organizations, schools, governments and hundreds of volunteers to leave an impact on New Orleans and Louisiana that lasts long after the big game festivities have ended. 

The first event kicks off on Friday with volunteers planting 600 tree saplings near the endangered Tchefuncte River Lighthouse on the northshore. The goal is to protect the lighthouse and serve as a storm surge buffer for the town of Madisonville.Being a host city brings an economic impact and moves up deadlines for infrastructure improvements, but the NFL has also expanded its footprint by organizing philanthropy and events that benefit the community.