Bringing Solar & Tesla Batteries To Restaurants In New Orleans To “Stay Lit,” And How You Can Help

Several organizations are bringing solar to New Orleans restaurants in an effort to “Stay Lit” as a part of hurricane preparedness, Big Easy Magazine reports. Feed the Second Line and Glass Half Full NOLA are collaborating on an initiative known as Stay Lit. The goal is to crowdfund an installation of solar panels and batteries to neighborhood restaurants in New Orleans. The idea, the article noted, is to create a decentralized network of solar-powered resilient restaurants called “Stay Lits.”

When a hurricane or other disaster causes a power outage, a Stay Lit restaurant will be able to keep its ice machines, freezers, and refrigerators running. This enables these neighborhood restaurants to become first responders for the community in disasters such as the one caused by Hurricane Ida. These restaurants can provide meals, cooling stations, ice, and charging stations.

The two organizations are crowdfunding with a goal of raising $60,000 for the installation of solar panels and two Powerwalls. Feed the Second Line said on its website:

“We need these located in the areas of our city where folks are more likely to not evacuate (due to financial hardship). We all know that disasters reveal our nation’s inequality. The poor can’t evacuate a hurricane as easily as the rich. They cannot afford a generator. They will be the first to become hungry.”

If you would like to donate, you can do so here.