About Us
St. Jude Outreach, formerly St. Jude Community Center, was given to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish by Joe Canizaro in the mid-1970s. Fr. Peter Rogers, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at that time, graciously accepted the donation and the building became the religious education site for Our Lady of Guadalupe parish and a Center for Senior Adults and a day care for children of working parents.
St. Jude Center remained under the care of Our Lady of Guadalupe for nearly 50 years. After Hurricane Katrina, in October 2005, St. Jude Center was changed to house persons who had lost their homes during Katrina and a home for persons who were homeless.
Sr. Beth Mouch was hired in January 2006 to serve as the director of the Center. From the help of many volunteer groups and generous donations from parishioners, the building underwent major renovations. Private rooms were created for working homeless women to stay until their homes were finished. Large rooms were made into dormitories for volunteers to stay while working on houses in New Orleans. Cooks were hired to prepare meals for the volunteers and the food insufficient in New Orleans.
This scheme continued to meet the needs of volunteers and food insufficient people in our area until the Pandemic in March 2020. When the Pandemic caused businesses to close in New Orleans, we had to stop those services and close our food bank. Instead of serving meals inside the Center, we partnered with the City and had a food truck serving meals in front of the Center for two years.
The staff at St. Jude Community Center continued to feed people outside of the building for another year. The food bank reopened and we formed a partnership with Grace at the Greenlight to feed people at breakfast. This worked very well until the Archdiocese of New Orleans sold the building to Start Corp in December 2023.
Start was the perfect entity to which to sell. Start is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 1984. Their mission is to “promote opportunities, which enhance the self-sufficiency of people to empower them to live and function independently.”
Their vision is to “create a seamless system of care for people that builds healthier communities.”
Start invited St. Jude Outreach to be the nutritional part of their “seamless system”. We immediately agreed and St. Jude fit into their system like hand-in-glove!
St. Jude Outreach temporarily relocated to 3300 Royal St in December 2025. Start Corp is undertaking a major transformation project of the building. In March 2026, a $12M renovation will begin. The building will become a medical center featuring a pharmacy, dental office, lab, counseling offices, and doctor’s offices. What will differentiate this medical center from other medical centers in New Orleans, is the meal service St. Jude Outreach will offer to the clients of Start. We will work with clients and staff to offer meals that can enhance healthier lifestyles and healing.
Since St Jude partnered with Start, we have reached out to the Salvation Army of New Orleans to collaborate with us. Thus, while we are relocated to Royal Street, we will operate our food bank from the Royal Street location and, in collaboration with the Salvation Army, we will serve meals from their mobile kitchen.
Our plan is to move back into the building at 400 N Rampart once the renovations are completed. We will start serving meals again and enlarge our food bank. We also plan to continue and expand our work with the Salvation Army.
Our Leadership
- Sr. Beth Mouch – Director
- Wanda Berniard – Food Bank Coordinator
- We All Asked For You – Food Service
Board of Directors
- Michie Bissell
- Sister Joyce Hanks
- Casey Guidry
- Sr. Beth Mouch