New Orleans — Scars from Hurricane Katrina are still visible in the Lower Ninth Ward more than 20 years later: empty lots where people never rebuilt their homes and boarded up storefronts where businesses never came back.
On one corner, an old Family Dollar store stands covered in graffiti. It looks abandoned. But twice a week people line up outside, and when the doors open, they rush in to find racks full of clothing and shelves piled high with household goods, toys, food, books — even packs of birth control. Mattresses and furniture line the walls and there are bins full of purses and shoes.
And it's all free for the taking at the New Orleans Free Store, where Ernestine Lane is shopping with a friend from church. They're trying on boots and winter wear even though it's mid-August and pushing 100 degrees. "The problem is, we're not used to cold weather," says Lane, "so when it gets cold, you're naked."
In this heat, several industrial fans cool the space: there's no air conditioning in the 9,000 square foot building. Lane says people might be skeptical at first, because of how the free store looks from the street. "They see the graffiti on the outside of the building and it's a misconception. I say 'Go in, there's blessings in there, go in.'"
Inside, it's a treasure trove.
"People who are struggling don't just want the bare necessities," says Dan Bingler, founder of the Greater New Orleans Caring Collective, a local mutual-aid organization that runs the free store. "They want nice things, too, because they deserve nice things, too," he adds. "People want comfort. People want care. People want fun objects in their house just for the sake of those existing."
Bingler, who is 42-years-old, has a history degree and used to work as a server and bartender in fine dining restaurants. When he was sent home at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bingler says he started organizing grocery deliveries to older folks in the community, meal delivery to families, and help with laundry for people who couldn't safely get to a laundromat. "It blew up locally," he says.
Then, when Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana in 2021, "that put us in a position to have kind of like a community resource center," Bingler says. "We had so many objects and things people had donated."
The parking lot outside the abandoned Family Dollar was already being used in a similar way, but Bingler made a deal with the owner of the property to use the building rent-free. He just has to pay the utilities. That way the property is kept up until the owner is ready to redevelop it in the future.
"It's just a crazy opportunity," Bingler says. "I don't think it's really been tapped." He thinks the idea could be replicated at empty storefronts around the country.
That was more than three years ago. On this day, Hilsa Rodriguez, a 37-year-old mom who lives nearby is shopping with her stepdaughters, Angela and Gloria Calix.
Angela, 8, says she likes the free store "a lot." She's picked out some animal-print hair clips for school, which she shows to her sister. Gloria, 9, is shopping for baggy jeans. "I like to look for shirts in the summer," she says. She shows off a small, furry vest and explains, "My stepmom is a babysitter. I thought I could be nice and give this to the baby." She's also picked up some towels in case she goes to the beach and flip flops that she's not sure will fit: "I have big feet," she adds.
As the two older girls dig through bins and happily run around with their shopping bags, their stepmom peruses the shelves with her 4-year-old, Galya. The free store "helps us a lot," says Rodriguez, who has six kids at home. "To have all the donations that they have here," she adds, "we're very grateful."
In addition to clothing and housewares, the New Orleans Free Store opens its doors for other services twice a week. "We do free STI testing," says Bingler, as well as "some food handouts and some basic medical care." Plus art classes, free punk shows and even roller skating. "Somehow the ground is just the perfect, polished concrete for it," Bingler says.
On a Wednesday night, the overhead lights are dimmed, the industrial fans are whirring and Chrishana Simon is gliding around the makeshift roller rink. "It just feels good when you're on the wheels and you skate and the floor feels nice," she says.
Simon is relatively new to roller skating. She learned by coming to the free store, where they have skates available to rent, but she already looks like a pro, wearing a furry trapper-style hat with headphones over it and gracefully crossing one foot over the other as she skates laps around the floor.
"It's a beautiful resource for the community," Simon says during a break. "I come to skate mostly… then they have the pole, right?" She's talking about a dance pole attached to a table, surrounded by some couches — another fun feature of the free store. "I definitely skate better than I pole dance," she laughs. Simon and Diana Ledet, who volunteers during free skate, practice some moves on the pole before grabbing hands and skating off together, talking and laughing.
The store operates with the help of several neighborhood ladies who volunteer their time. Phyllis Matthews, who goes by the name
"Queen" is sorting newly donated clothing. The retired social worker says she does a little bit of everything. "I'm all over," she says.
"I'm like an octopus." She's on a mission now to find a truck that the store can use to pick up large donated items. Matthews says there's much need in the Lower Ninth Ward.
Erin Sims agrees. She's setting up a hot dog stand behind a counter near the back door. "I raised three kids in the Lower Ninth Ward," she says, "and my momma raised me and four of my other siblings down in the Lower Ninth Ward. I've been here all my life."
The only time Sims left was during Hurricane Katrina. When the levees broke, her house was submerged. It took her a year and a half to rebuild, but she doesn't think the neighborhood ever fully recovered. "We still have a lot of abandoned places," Sims says. "You can't get groceries... Even to get medicines you have to go to the Walgreens or Walmart. There's nothing down in the Lower Ninth Ward for that."
"It's the number one food desert in Louisiana," adds Dan Bingler. It's a void he's trying to help fill in the community with the Greater New Orleans Caring Collective. Because, as he puts it, the next storm is coming. "When something happens again, number one is we're closer. We're more prepared," he says. "We'll be doing hurricane relief... and we'll be a shelter, if need be... Even if it's just skating with a generator," Bingler says, the New Orleans Free Store will be there.
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