NEW ORLEANS, La. — The sun rose on Sunday in New Orleans just to hide behind heavy clouds that drizzled soft rain on everyone waiting outside of the New Orleans Mission for the #TailgateTogether crew. The humidity made the air oppressive and heavy; everyone was thirsty. And there weren’t enough waters to go around.

This is the main challenge facing Allen Keller and Katherine Seals, two of the Saints fans behind the #TailgateTogether mutual aid movement serving the unhoused population in New Orleans. The need is overwhelming, and the resources to meet those needs are few.

That hasn’t deterred Keller or Seals, who are serving food, supplies, and fellowship to unhoused folks on a biweekly basis. Keller’s Sunday starts when he leaves his house at 8 a.m. sharp to head to Firehouse Subs to pick up boxed lunches donated to #TailgateTogether. At around 9:15 a.m., he’s at the Mission ready to serve. By about 9:32 a.m. this Sunday, the table was empty. The boxed lunches were all claimed, the waters and other drinks were all served, and the bags, toiletries, and supplies had all been distributed.

There’s never enough to go around.

One man I spoke with on Sunday (name withheld to protect his privacy and dignity) told me he works full-time in the French Quarter and has stable housing lined up for January … but it’s just October. He told me about two communities of unhoused folks at either end of Poydras Street who are far enough off the beaten path that they don’t get any regular assistance. Sometimes he’ll go sleep at one of those spots because he worries about the women and children who are unhoused, vulnerable, and alone in those locations. Sometimes he has enough cash on hand for a hotel room for a night or two, but he’ll give it to those women so they can eat and feed their kids.

“They’re starving. They’re about this big around,” he said, pointing to his pinky finger.

New Orleans’ Office of Homeless Services and Strategy recently saw its budget cut from $3.6 million annually to just $700,000 in 2025. And because Louisianans in need assume a larger metro area will have more resources, New Orleans becomes home base for people from all over the state who are experiencing housing insecurity.

The number of unhoused people in the Orleans and Jefferson parishes is estimated to be more than 1,500 people. Many are in temporary housing and are receiving some level of assistance, but too many slip under the radar and aren’t in a position to receive any help, even setting aside the limited resources available.

There are a handful of food distribution programs available in the city, but the times they’re available are so limited. The Rebuild Center and Ozanam Inn offer snacks from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and lunch from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Giving Hope NOLA distributes food Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Grace at the Greenlight serves breakfast seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. To get food, people have to be able to make it to one of those spots in those limited timeframes.

These organizations are doing all they can with the funding they have. But it’s not enough. Again, the need is too great; the resources too few.

That’s where #TailgateTogether comes in. Keller, Seals, and some other Saints fans started out by sharing their leftovers with the unhoused population near the Superdome. But sharing leftovers never felt right to Keller.

“We’d have a ton of food left over, so we’d bring that out to the homeless,” Keller told Canal Street Chronicles a few years back. “But the thought of giving the homeless our leftovers didn’t feel right to me. So we started cooking the homeless their own separate, fresh meal.”

What started out as spontaneous kindness during the season has become a well-oiled, year-round machine. The unhoused folks #TailgateTogether serves manage the distribution process themselves so they can maintain some agency — which is important for a community that has to rely on the kindness of others to survive because of their circumstances. Sunday is distribution day no matter when the Saints play; Keller and Seals want this community to have something consistent and stable to rely on each week.

#TailgateTogether relies on donations — in addition to the deeply appreciated support of Firehouse Subs, they have an ongoing need for both monetary donations and items from their Amazon Wish List to make this happen every week. Items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, bath wipes, blankets, socks, and bags are desperately needed and go extremely quickly, along with the food and water. The more donations they receive, the more needs they can meet. Everything that’s donated goes toward serving the unhoused community.

There are about 750,000 unhoused people across the United States, and as the cost of living continues to skyrocket with inflation and housing becoming less and less affordable, that number is unlikely to decline in the near future. SNAP and Medicaid benefits are being cut, and between 57% and 59% of US adults are one financial emergency away from housing insecurity. It is truly a “there but for the grace of God” situation.

And this need exists everywhere in the United States right now. In my city, Atlanta, there are over 3,000 people without permanent housing. In New York City, technically the home of the Jets and Giants, the amount of people with no access to shelter is estimated to be over 4,500, with hundreds of thousands of people in temporary housing situations, one bad day or unexpected expense away from losing shelter. Even in a smaller, Midwestern NFL market like Indianapolis, there are about 2,700 people estimated to be either entirely unsheltered or staying in a temporary housing situation.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting the work of #TailgateTogether in New Orleans. Every donation helps. But I also hope we will all take a long, hard look at our own communities and consider what we can do to help unhoused people in our own cities.

Because the need is great everywhere, and the resources are always few. People are relying on the kindness of others to meet their most basic needs, and it’s up to all of us who can help to seize that opportunity and care for our fellow humans.

It’s bigger than football.