Krewe Royalty

James and Julie Crow were born and raised in Wisconsin.

 

13 years ago they relocated to Baton Rouge to be with their son and grandson.  They saw their first Mardi Gras parade the first year they were here and were hooked!!!  For the next 10 years Julie and Jim never missed any opportunity to see a Mardi Gras Parade. 

 

Living in the Shenandoah area of Baton Rouge, Julie quickly realized that "our neighborhood/development" had no representation in the city's Mardi Gras celebrations.  She started inquiring what it would take to start a new parade in Baton Rouge and the rest is history.  Julie quickly learned to dismiss the phrase....You can't get this done!  There were A LOT of long nights, many many emails and meetings with people that would eventually help her reach her dream, The Krewe of Shenandoah was born.  She worked hard to enlist the help of a great group of people, the Steering Committee that would also help the dream come true.  

 

 Along the way, Julie and Jim have made many new friends and associates—some of whom she is certain will become lifelong friends. What a wonderful and unexpected blessing this journey has been  

 

She recounts her greatest memory was the first year of the parade.  Julie and Jim and the Steering Committee all thought, "What happens if we do all this work and no one comes to the first parade?"  Well.... on the night of our first parade we pulled out of the staging area of the parade in our float and looked down Jones Creek and were blown away.  Much to our excitement 25,000 people attended our first parade.  

 

Julie and Jim's greatest hope is that one day their grandson will still be able to bring his friends to this parade and say "My Grandma founded this whole parade"  

 

What a joy this dream coming true has been!

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in 2005, Todd Terrell lost everything - his family’s historic seafood business, their boats, their livelihood. The business, a testament to pioneering spirit, had been started by his great aunt in 1932 during the Great Depression. But from those waters emerged something extraordinary: a calling that would transform personal loss into a mission of hope and restoration through the United Cajun Navy. 

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“When you lose everything, sometimes you get angry at God,” Terrell reflects, “But my faith was such that it was like, “ You know what? There’s got to be a better calling for me.” And the next thing you know, we’re helping people, and it’s turned into this. God had a better plan for me.

That better plan has evolved into a remarkable disaster response organization that embodies the principle of beauty rising from the ashes. The United Cajun Navy doesn’t just respond to natural disasters - they’ve created a year round community of care that brings together an unlikely alliance of churches, bikers, boat owners, and volunteers from all walks of life.

Jennifer Richardson is a mother of three and a real estate agent who spends six days a week cleaning up litter from some of Baton Rouge’s busiest intersections in hopes of making a difference. 

 

In January of 2021, she was at the litter infested intersection of Essen Lane and Jefferson Highway. She used the power of the social media platforms Facebook and Nextdoor to take matters into her own hands. and amassed a group of over 40 volunteers to help with the cleanup process.

Now you can find Jennifer and her volunteer group Keep Tiger Town Beautiful out every Saturday scouting locations with industrial trash bags, trash pickers, and good attitudes. Retired members of the group can be found picking up litter daily. Each cleanup session ends with hundreds of pounds of trash collected but beautified roads left behind.