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Gumbo for New York

© G. L. Tyrrell

The gumbo krewe from Norco, Louisana rolled into NYC after 38 hours on the road Thursday. It was their second trip. Shawn and Danielle Bradley of Norco had driven to New York to serve over 3,000 bowls of gumbo just two weeks after the attacks and this week were returning with more.

The convoy of 10 trucks brought tasty cheer to relief workers at Ground Zero. Goodies included: 300 king cakes, 3,000 pralines, 4,000 pounds of rice, 600 pounds of andouille sausage and other ingredients for gumbo and jambalaya plus bubble gum and colorful Mardi Gras beads and other Nawlins themed favors. They served up more than 3,000 bowls of gumbo to stressed relief workers, many who had never tasted gumbo before! Explaining the King Cake tradition to New Yorkers made for much fun too as they found the babies and wondered what it all meant. New Orleanians who now live in New York heard about the mini-fest and came down to join the morale boosting party.

How did this idea get started you may ask? Shawn and Danielle Bradley were wondering how they could help. Shawn says, "My sister called me and said, 'Man, you ought to see the workers out there, eating MacDonald's hamburgers," "And it hit me -- these guys can't eat any more hamburgers. "...I know what gumbo does for me when I'm stressed. ... We're just trying to cheer these guys up any way we can." Word spread thru the parishes and donations of rice, sausage, vegetables and cash poured in. The famous McIlhenny family donated 10,000 bottles of Tabasco sauce.

Leave it to Louisiana to bring their own unique brand of cheer to many who had never even tasted gumbo! Morale was boosted at a time when it was much needed too. Conflicts resulted in the arrest of some firefighters when the city had attempted to scale down the operation claiming it was too dangerous to risk more lives. Those who lost friends and family were emotionally devastated to be told to leave what they consider sacred ground and protested loudly.

The Gumbo Krewe consists of about 30 happy people and their slogan is: "Serving our country by Serving Our Country"

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