501(c)(3) · EIN 87-2441089 · 4-star Charity Navigator · GuideStar PlatinumA hot breakfast.
A hot breakfast.
A steady adult.
Every school day.
The Morning Table Foundation runs free school breakfast programs in 84 under-resourced public elementary schools across six Gulf South states. Every school morning from 6:50am, 1,840 volunteers serve 34,200 children a hot meal before the first bell — because a child who eats breakfast reads three grade levels higher by age ten, and because the statistics say that simply, and we've done the work to know it's true.
34,200children served · every weekday
6.4Mmeals served · since founding 2009
91¢of every $1 · goes to programs
84schools · 6 states · 1,840 volunteers
Our mission
We started this
because one teacher
in New Orleans kept
buying granola bars.
Ms. Elouise Thibodeaux taught 4th grade at Harney Elementary in the 9th Ward from 2006 to 2014. Every morning on her drive in, she stopped at the Walgreens on Claiborne and bought four boxes of granola bars, one box of bananas, and a gallon of milk — $28.40, out of her own pocket, so the six kids in her class who hadn't eaten wouldn't fall asleep by 10am. She did this for eight years before anyone noticed.
In October 2009, a group of seven parents — among them our founder Theodora Mayhew-Briault, Ms. Thibodeaux's cousin Leonce Thibodeaux, and a then-retired cafeteria manager named Ruthie Mae Benoit — decided it wasn't acceptable for teachers to fund their own students' breakfast. We held a spaghetti dinner in a Methodist church hall in Gentilly. We raised $4,212. We bought a warming cart and a week's worth of grits, eggs, and biscuits. On Monday 19 October 2009, we served 38 children at Harney Elementary before school started.
Sixteen years later, we're still doing the same thing — just in 84 schools instead of one. We haven't changed the recipe (literally; Ruthie Mae's biscuit recipe is still the recipe) and we haven't changed the rule: if a child in the cafeteria line before 7:40am wants breakfast, they get breakfast. No form. No means test. No questions.
2024–2025 school-year impact
Numbers we had
independently audited by Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLP.
Every number on this page is pulled from our annual independent financial audit (Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLP, August 2025) and our annual program evaluation conducted by Dr. Anselm Kpogbe-Asante at Tulane University's Murphy Institute. Both full reports are linked in the footer.
Our programs
Three programs.
One dinner-table
ethic.
Program 01 · Flagship
Morning Table Breakfast
The program we started with. Free hot breakfast before school, five days a week, at 84 partner public elementary schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, SE Texas, Arkansas, and W Tennessee. Every school has a paid regional coordinator, a rotating team of 16–22 volunteers, and a commercial warming cart we purchased outright and maintain. Menu rotates on a 10-day cycle: grits, biscuits & gravy, breakfast tacos, oatmeal bar, egg sandwiches, yogurt parfait, French toast, pancakes, cheese grits, rice & eggs. Nothing processed; no cereal; no shelf-stable shortcuts. Food sourced from four regional wholesalers we've worked with since 2012.
84 schools · 1,284,000 meals · $1.12M annual program costGrowing fastest · priority
Program 02
The Tuesday Pantry
Weekly take-home grocery program for families at Morning Table schools. Every Tuesday afternoon from 3:15–5:30pm, families can pick up a bag of groceries — two fresh items, two pantry staples, one protein, one dairy, one bread, plus a children's book from Scholastic. No means test, no registration beyond a first-name card. Currently running at 38 of 84 schools; our three-year goal is all 84 by 2027. Dr. Kpogbe-Asante's data shows families served by both Morning Table and The Tuesday Pantry have 62% fewer school absences than families served by breakfast alone. This program needs funding: $180/family/year covers 38 weeks.
38 schools · 8,400 families · growing to 84 schools by 2027Program 03 · Pilot, 2024 →
The Biscuit Apprenticeship
A 12-week paid culinary apprenticeship for 16–19-year-olds from Morning Table communities, launched in August 2024. Apprentices earn $18/hr learning commercial baking under chef Imelda Goudeau-Rochon (formerly of Commander's Palace), produce the biscuits served in our 84 schools, and leave with a ServSafe certification and a $2,400 stipend. First cohort: 14 apprentices; 12 graduated, 11 placed in paid kitchen work within 90 days (Turkey and the Wolf, Dooky Chase's, Lilette, Bywater Bakery, among others). Second cohort in progress: 18 apprentices. We plan to grow to 40 apprentices/year by 2027.
Pilot program · 32 apprentices to date · 87.5% job placementHow to give
Three ways.
All of them feed a child tomorrow.
Every dollar is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. 91¢ of every dollar goes to programs; 8.8¢ to administration and fundraising; our founders still take no salary. Give once, give monthly, or give us a meaningful gift in your estate plan.
Once
$50feeds a child for 4 weeks
A one-time gift of $50 pays for 58 hot breakfasts — almost a full month of school mornings for one child. Most of our first-time donors start here.
- ✓ Immediate impact this week
- ✓ Tax receipt emailed within 24 hours
- ✓ 2025 donor handwritten card (Nov-Dec gifts)
- ✓ Quarterly impact email, 4× a year
Most sustaining · 62% of donors
Monthly
$25/mofeeds one child · all year
A $25/month recurring gift covers breakfast for one child for an entire school year. This is our single most valuable type of donation: it lets us forecast, buy food at volume, and hire regional staff.
- ★ Feeds one child for one school year
- ★ 100% of sustainers get a named seat
- ★ Tax receipts auto-filed annually (Jan 15)
- ★ Monthly 3-minute email from Theodora
- ★ Invited to annual donor gathering, New Orleans
- ★ Cancel or change anytime · one email, one reply
Legacy
$150+or a bequest in your estate
A major or planned gift. Our planned-giving society (the "Ruthie Mae Society") has 118 members; their bequests fund the endowment that keeps the program running when economic winters come — as they will.
- ✓ One-time major gifts ($150+)
- ✓ Bequests · IRA beneficiary designations
- ✓ Donor-advised fund grants (we accept all)
- ✓ Stock & crypto gifts (lower capital gains)
- ✓ Honor or memorial gifts (notified card)
- ✓ Contact Leonce for a confidential conversation
Our people
A small staff, paid fairly.
A large volunteer family, paid in coffee.
Theodora Mayhew-Briault
Founder & Executive DirectorCo-founded the Foundation in 2009 from her dining room in Gentilly. Previously a pediatric social worker at Children's Hospital New Orleans (1997–2009). Board member, Louisiana Food Policy Council. Has not missed the first-day-of-school breakfast service at Harney Elementary once in 16 years. Salary (2024, public on our 990): $92,400.
Leonce Thibodeaux III
Chief of ProgramsJoined 2010. Ms. Elouise's cousin. Oversees all 84 program sites, the 14 regional coordinators, and Tuesday Pantry operations. Runs our kitchen procurement (we buy 18,000 lbs of flour a year; he negotiates). Runs toward problems; people love him.
Dr. Miriam Chukwu-Delacroix
Director of EvaluationJoined 2019. PhD Public Health, Tulane. Runs our impact measurement partnership with Tulane's Murphy Institute and Xavier University. Publishes our annual program evaluation. Insists on p-values; insists more on children being fed; has never been wrong about either.
Chef Imelda Goudeau-Rochon
Culinary Director & Apprenticeship LeadJoined 2024 to launch the Biscuit Apprenticeship. Formerly sous chef, Commander's Palace (8 years); pastry chef, Dooky Chase's (5 years). Runs our kitchen training program. Granddaughter of Leah Chase's longtime dishwasher, Magnolia Rochon, whom she credits for everything she knows.
Good questions we get often
Transparency first.
Then the biscuits.
Where does my money actually go?
Of every $1 you give: 91.2¢ goes to programs (food, kitchen equipment, regional coordinator salaries, transportation, volunteer supplies, the Tuesday Pantry, the Apprenticeship). 5.3¢ goes to administration (insurance, accounting, the audit, rent on our 1,200 sq ft office in New Orleans). 3.5¢ goes to fundraising (our one part-time development manager, Ottilie Bruneau-Mendez, and direct-mail costs). Our founders and executive director salaries are public in the annual 990 (IRS Form 990 is the public tax return every 501(c)(3) must file; you can read ours at morning-table.org/990 or on GuideStar). The audited financials are on the site too. Ask us hard questions about this. We will answer them.
Are you a real 501(c)(3)? Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. The Morning Table Foundation, Inc. is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity incorporated in the State of Louisiana on 14 October 2009. Our EIN is 87-2441089. You may verify our exempt status at apps.irs.gov/app/eos (IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search). Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law; we provide a written acknowledgment within 24 hours of any gift of $10 or more, and an annual summary in January. If you give from a donor-advised fund (Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, etc.), we're a pre-approved recipient.
Can I volunteer? Do I have to live in New Orleans?
Please do. We run 84 programs in six states; you do not need to live in New Orleans. Our volunteer coordinator Ottavia Beauregard-Kpoti matches you with a program site within reasonable commuting distance of your home — our current footprint covers most of the Gulf South, from Houston to Mobile, from New Orleans up to Memphis. A typical volunteer shift is one school morning, 6:30–8:00am, once a week or once a month. Coffee is provided. You will be loved. Apply at morning-table.org/volunteer; you'll hear from Ottavia within three business days.
I'm a teacher / principal — how does a school become a partner?
We accept new partner schools on a rolling basis, prioritized by three factors: (1) >70% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, (2) an on-site kitchen capable of our equipment, (3) a teacher or principal willing to be the site champion. Fill out the short form at morning-table.org/partner (two pages); Leonce or one of the regional directors will visit in person within 60 days. We currently have 38 schools on a wait-list; our growth is funded by giving. If your school is on the list, your principal can check status by emailing hello@tilkly.com.
Are there other organizations doing this? Why not give to them?
There are — and we think highly of many of them. No Kid Hungry runs a much larger national breakfast-in-the-classroom program; Feeding America operates the national foodbank network; locally we have Second Harvest, Covenant House, Liberty's Kitchen. All of them are excellent. We recommend you give to any of them. We exist to do one specific thing — hot breakfast + Tuesday Pantry + Apprenticeship in one community over 16 years — and we think doing that one thing, deeply, in one region, matters. Our 2.4-grade-level reading gain says it's working. If your money would do more good elsewhere, please give it elsewhere. We mean that.
Can I give stock, crypto, or a DAF grant?
Yes. Appreciated stock held >1 year can be gifted directly for the deduction of full market value with no capital-gains tax — often our largest single gifts arrive this way. Crypto: we accept BTC, ETH, SOL, USDC via our donation-processing partner The Giving Block. Donor-advised fund grants: we accept from Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, National Philanthropic Trust, and most community foundations. DAF grants should be made out to "The Morning Table Foundation, Inc." EIN 87-2441089. Questions: Ottilie Bruneau-Mendez at hello@tilkly.com or (504) 418-2284.