NEW ORLEANS — Down the aisles at Second Harvest Food Bank, Chief Strategy Officer John Sillars expects ripple effects of Taylor Swift to fill some “blank spaces.” Sillars says emails are coming in, asking about volunteer opportunities.
“These are visitors coming into the city and given that Taylor Swift has such an affinity for supporting food banks, what they want to do is to do their own part while they’re in the city,” said Sillars.
Swift has been known to donate millions of dollars to food banks in the cities she performs in. Sillars says regardless of whether a donation comes in, he welcomes any extra help.
“When somebody like Taylor Swift comes in and shines a light on our issue and says, ‘I see you,’ we’re very grateful because it brings a lot of attention to our mission of ending food insecurity in South Louisiana,” said Sillars.
This won’t be Swift’s first visit to the New Orleans area. Back in 2008, she was set to perform at Family Gras in Jefferson Parish.
“She had just come out with “Our Song,” which was starting to really rise in the charts,” said Family Gras producer Greg Buisson.
Buisson says he was looking for a rising artist with star power.
“It’s a guess quite frankly and on her, we really hit with the right one,” said Buisson.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature stole the show that night. Storms and lightning prevented Swift from taking the stage, but she made a promise to the crowd that showed up to see her.
“She said so sorry I’m not going to be able to perform for you tonight because of the weather but I will sign every autograph you want, which is not something we knew was going to happen,” said Buisson.
Buisson says Swift spent about two hours under a tent signing autographs and talking to fans.
“The tent had about that much water in it because the rain was so bad. Water was sort of creeping up onto your ankles while you were standing there in the tent,” said Buisson.
Buisson says fans had no problem waiting out in the rain for the opportunity to meet Swift.
“You could see the connection and the genuine appreciation she had for her fans. It was evident in the way that she handled it that night,” said Buisson.
Fast forward to now, Swift has a record-breaking tour with three sellout shows inside the Superdome this weekend. Everywhere she goes, so do those fans, many ready to lend a helping hand.
“She’s taking her popularity and she’s using it for good, which I think is really special,” said Sillars.
Second Harvest has also teamed up with The Rusty Nail & Sidecar for a Taylor Swift concert ticket giveaway raffle. You can buy raffle tickets here. Raffle tickets are $50. Two tickets for the Saturday concert will be raffled off Friday night. Proceeds go to Second Harvest.
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