Sharing the Blessings
New Orleans residents Beth and Joe Poe began supporting Second Harvest after going through Hurricane Katrina. Their home flooded, but they considered themselves fortunate.
“Suddenly, we were in the same position as tens of thousands of people in New Orleans…but we did have insurance, and we did have love and support,” Beth shares. They spent 18 months in a FEMA trailer as their home was gutted, repaired and raised.
“When we returned in 2006, there were people knocking on the door, asking how we were managing,” Beth says. “We got the sense of, ‘We're all in this together, and we've got to help each other out.’”
Their experience of unexpectedly being on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers led them to become active donors and volunteers at Second Harvest.
After his retirement, Joe spent time volunteering every week, preparing meals for children’s afterschool and summer feeding programs.
Beth has included Second Harvest in her estate plans. “I don't have children, and I just feel that I do want it to go to some organization that I think can use it, and use it in the way that's meaningful to me,” Beth adds. “So, right now, half of anything that I leave is going to Second Harvest.”
Beth and Joe have never regretted for a moment the decision to stay and be a part of the rebuilding. “After Katrina, that was the moment when either you wanted to leave New Orleans once and for all, or stay here forever,” says Beth. “And we realized that, for us, New Orleans is home. You want everybody to be as well off as they can be, and you do what you can to help.”
If you would like to learn more about including Second Harvest in your estate plans, like Beth and Joe, please contact Heather Sweeney at 504-729-2839 or hsweeney@no-hunger.org today.