ABOUT ABBEY BREAD

Baking bread is an ancient monastic tradition, and for more than a century the monks of Saint Joseph Abbey have baked bread to feed themselves, the seminarians, and monastery guests. In 1990, adhering to the call of the gospel to serve the poor, the monks increased their baking capacity and began donating homemade bread to homeless shelters and community organizations throughout the Greater New Orleans area.

The bakery is located in a former milking parlor on the Saint Joseph Abbey campus. The small, beige brick building sits idle some days, but beginning in the early morning hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, activity is bustling and the heavenly aroma of fresh baking bread fills the nearby air. That’s when bakery manager Br. Lazarus Gordy, along with fellow monks and a dedicated group of volunteers, bake, slice and bag hundreds of loaves of bread that will help feed those in need.

Currently, the bakery produces about 720 loaves of bread a week to donate to several Northshore charities as well as eight agencies on the Southshore.

Abbey Bread, also known as “Pennies for Bread and the Abbey,” supplied organizations with approximately 1,000 loaves of bread per week prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But in March 2020, the Abbey was forced to halt baking and delivery service to outside organizations. As the shutdowns ended and the Abbey tried to resume operations, it was faced with the same supply chain problems that affected the nation. The monks had trouble getting necessary ingredients, even as the need for Abbey Bread donations increased.

Finally, with enough ingredients, supplies, and faithful volunteers, production for outside agencies began once again. While production is still about half of what it was at its peak, the monks and volunteers remain as committed as ever to this ministry, which is completely funded by individuals and corporate and business sponsors.

Since its beginning, Abbey Bread has been a part of more than 30 million meals. This bread donation has saved more than $5 million for our partnering organizations, which are now able to purchase other goods and items for the people they serve.

ABBEY BREAD BEGAN AS A ‘PROGRAM OF LOVE’

Pennies for Bread and the Abbey program founder Chris Larsen (Saint Joseph Seminary and High School Class of ‘65) came up with the idea of the bread distribution program when he was a young executive in New Orleans. His office overlooked Lafayette Park, and he’d look out his window and see an elderly monk carrying baked bread in a wheel barrow and distributing it to the homeless and the needy. He remembered the bread that was baked at Saint Joseph Abbey to feed to the monks and students, and he approached Abbot Patrick Regan about starting what he called a bread distribution “Program of Love” right here at the Abbey.

In 1990, Pennies for Bread and the Abbey was born. A board of advisors was created with Larsen as its chairman, and Fr. Jonathan DeFrange, a monk, was assigned to work with Larsen and become the program’s first baker. “My grandparents had been bakers, and I was familiar with the baking process, although the abbot did not know this at the time,” Fr. Jonathan said.

The old milk parlor, which was being used as a paint storage facility, was designated to become the new bakery. Fr. Jonathan said a remodel was required – replacing doors and windows, adding a new concrete floor and porch, and installing a bathroom and septic system, for instance – before baking could begin. Then, when the new bakery oven continued to shut down due to a backdraft from the exhaust, the chimney had to be raised.

Initially, they had a new oven but little other equipment, and Fr. Jonathan only had one helper. But those days didn’t last long.

Larsen contacted Randy Delchamps, who was building a new Delchamps Grocery in Covington at that time to replace an older store, and he agreed to donate some bakery equipment. “We got the metal working tables, more bread pans, a larger stainless sink, and both a proofer and retarder.  This really sped up the operation,” Fr. Jonathan said.

Larsen also got Bunny Bread to donate a bread truck, some moveable metal racks and plastic trays, Fr. Jonathan said.

These donors, as well as other individual and corporate sponsors, helped Pennies for Bread take off. More equipment was purchased, and it wasn’t long before they were baking 1,000 loaves of bread a week.

Larsen chaired the PBA committee for 10 years. Fr. Jonathan left the bakery in 1992, when he was assigned as pastor of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Folsom.