There are a lot of things that make living on the North Shore great, and one of them is the incredible number of non-profit and civic organizations we have. One thing I love about seeing the positive work they do for our community is that it reminds me how many awesome, giving people we have where we live.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation was formed over 100 years ago to connect those who would like to support worthwhile organizations to the many groups out there. Even in the Slidell area there are well over 100 non-profits, something The Slidell Independent highlights every two years in our “Slidell Volunteers” special section. It is hard to know about them all so you can find which groups you would like to support.
To that end, the N.O. Foundation started “Give NOLA Day,” which will be held next Tuesday, May 6. It is a day to specifically highlight all the area non-profits—over 1,000 in the New Orleans area that includes the North Shore—and encourage the public to make donations to the groups.
I was contacted by the head of one outstanding Slidell group, the Good Samaritan Ministry at St. Luke Catholic Church, and asked to remind the public about Give NOLA Day since it is a way to help these organizations, many that rely almost entirely on public donations.
While I am familiar with Good Sam’s Executive Director Sue Rotolo and the great work they do to provide help to needy families and individuals, I would be remiss to not make it clear that I know dozens of other local non-profits that are truly amazing. That is why I would prefer not to mention any of the others since there are so many good ones out there, but I appreciate Sue bringing the Give NOLA Day to my attention, so I don’t mind listing them here.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation can be found online at: givenola.org, and they have a listing of over 1,000 non-profits from the South Shore to the North Shore. You can go online next Tuesday and find a group you feel especially interested in supporting.
But regardless of who you pick, I hope you will take the time to select someone to donate to, since I can tell you from first hand experience that we have a lot of great volunteer groups in Slidell who help make this the wonderful community we all love.
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I made a stop at Royal Avian Plus at 1171 Robert Blvd. the other day to drop off a few papers of The Slidell Independent that we picked up at our boxes when the next publication came out. As most of you know, there are VERY few extra papers we have since virtually every one of the papers put out each Thursday at our 130 business locations is ever left over.
But there are a few and every few months I might have 50 to take to owner Michelle Carollo for what you will probably agree is very good use—lining the bottom of her many bird cages in the store, where she not only sells all kinds of exotic birds, but also has a huge range of animal toys and foods.
As I walked in, Michelle was setting up a spot with what she told me was “a great Mother’s Day present.” They are bird feeders that have cameras on them that are activated any time a bird lands to feed. The camera is linked to your phone and immediately sends a video to your phone of a very close-up view of a bird. It is really quite fascinating.
I know that because my kids bought one for my wife over a year ago, and once she and my tech daughter Jenny got it set up, it has given us some of the most interesting videos of birds that we are watching just inches away from the camera.
Michelle is right. They are incredibly cool Mother’s Day presents and would be something really different for your favorite girl—mom, grandmother, daughter—whoever.
She even has hummingbird feeders that also have the camera, and while we don’t have that one, I can only imagine how neat it would be to have a close-up video of a hummingbird eating right in front of you.
I have no doubt she will sell these things like hot cakes, so if you are looking for something very unique for that special woman in your life, stop by and see here on Robert Boulevard. The store itself is a lot of fun to see with all the birds, although I have to honestly say I don’t know how anyone works in there eight hours a day.
Guess you have to like loud birds—and I actually know Michelle does because I did a feature on the parrots and macaws she used to have at her home as a wildlife rescue expert.
Stop by and see her before the cool feeders are gone.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.