Crescent City Cafe

We are excited to welcome new leaders to help run the Crescent City Cafe in 2012. Read a little about them below and then meet them in person by volunteering! Our new leaders are: Corey Seifert, Lindsay Hamm, Jenna Addis, Brian Bell, Colin Lacy, Jack DePaolo and Tyler Gray.

Kitchen Leaders

Corey Seifert moved to New Orleans in August 2009 when her husband started grad school at the University of New Orleans. Corey works from home doing software design and project management with her favorite coworker: her dog, Thibodeaux. She first volunteered for the Crescent City Cafe in summer 2010 after discovering the opportunity in a church newsletter. She says it’s hard to pick a favorite dish at the Café “because Laura makes some awesome creations,” but loves anything with bacon cooked in brown sugar and apples! Quirky talent: Corey is quick at counting the number of letters in a word, a handy talent when playing Wheel of Fortune or Hangman.

Jenna Addis moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University more than 8 years ago. Jenna says, “With the gorgeous weather and the Southern hospitality, I felt right at home and have never looked back!” Jenna first volunteered for the Crescent City Café in its early days in 2009 and has been coming back since! Her favorite Café dish is lemon ricotta French toast casserole, but she says that (long-time volunteer) Bobby Segal’s eggs are a close second! Fun fact: she’s played the bassoon since she was 14 and was planning to major in music. That didn’t happen, but she still plays in local community groups.

Lindsay Hamm moved to New Orleans in August 2009 to attend the Tulane School of Social Work. She began volunteering at the Café that fall and counts the breakfast tacos as her favorite dish. Lindsay is the oldest of six siblings, teaches piano lessons and has a degree in music, all of which make her generally awesome.

Front of House Leaders

Brian Bell is a lifer – born, bred and schooled in the New Orleans area. He first made waves (Green Waves) at the Café in fall 2010. He then stepped up to the plate while Kim was away, to help lead the front of house, and did a fantastic job. We couldn’t help ourselves and asked him to lead more consistently. Quirky talent: Sometimes his inner cowboy (read “redneck”) comes out and he spins some rope tricks. He says, “It’s really not at all useful, and not even a great party trick as it takes up too much space. But why not?”

Colin Lacy came to New Orleans in fall 2002 to begin college at Loyola. He first volunteered with the Café in fall 2009 after finding a posting for volunteers online. He recognized Georgia as the volunteer coordinator, and since he’d known her for years, decided to ask what it was all about. Colin says, “By far, my favorite dish is Big Boss’s breakfast casserole,” referring to his position with Emeril’s Restaurants and the Café’s use of their delicious recipe. In very exciting personal news, Colin just bought a house!  Woot!

Jack DePaolo moved to New Orleans in 2009 to get his MD/PhD at LSU. He first volunteered at Crescent City Cafe in the fall 2009 after reading about it at St. Charles Ave Presbyterian Church and says he quickly fell in love with the mission of the Café. Outside of liking pretty much everything that Chef Laura creates, Jack says his favorite dish is cheese grits because “they just go so well with everything.” In unfortunate news, Jack can’t eat the cheese grits when they’re mixed with shrimp because he’s allergic to shellfish.

Tyler Gray moved to New Orleans to attend law school at Loyola in 2007 and began volunteering for the Café in 2009. He wrote about his volunteer experience last year and said one of his favorite things is how many different types of volunteer opportunities he has through the Café. His favorite Cafe dish is quiche, and Tyler just so happens to be a huge lacrosse fan, helping to bring the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Lacrosse Classic to New Orleans.