Marigny community rallies around chef who lost savings in home ...

"It's a pretty valuable life lesson, that's for sure." -- Tres Barnard

On Oct. 19, Tres Barnard, a young New Orleans chef, was riding high. His new weekly soul food pop-up restaurant at Marie's Bar in?Faubourg Marigny, We've Got Soul, had done its best business yet, selling out all the food within?a few hours.

At the end of the night, Barnard walked his cash -- about $1,400 - around the corner from the bar to his house in the 2600 block of Burgundy Street, then headed back to the bar to clean up.

When Barnard returned home a few hours later, his flat-screen TV was missing. So was his laptop. And?all his cash, a total?of $2,100, was gone, too.

"That was the most crippling feeling I've ever felt in my life," Barnard, 26, said?a few days later. "I put in all that hard work and time, just to have it all taken away by some a--hole."

While burglary is not a violent crime and thus?does not?usually make headlines, it is one of New Orleans' most common. At least 75 burglaries have been reported in New Orleans in the last week, according to New Orleans Police Department data.

Officers came out to Barnard's house and took fingerprints. But, as with most burglaries, there was little other evidence.

A neighbor told police he had noticed a young man knocking on Barnard's door earlier that night. The man appeared to be in his early 20s and was wearing a green and white striped T-shirt, the neighbor said.

When the neighbor asked the stranger whom he was looking for, the?man responded, "I'm looking for James." The neighbor?told him?no one named James lived there. The man shrugged, got into a car but did not drive away. The car sat there, idling.

The burglar?apparently entered through Barnard's back door. There were no signs of forced entry, so Barnard thinks he may have left the door unlocked. That's the last time?he will make that mistake, he said.

"It's a pretty valuable life lesson, that's for sure," he said. "I'm going the extra mile from now on. I bought a safe, bolted it down to the floor. I changed all my locks. I'm doing everything I possibly can to make sure this doesn't happen again."

After losing all his money, Barnard thought he wouldn't be able to open his pop-up restaurant again for at least six months.

But his friends and neighbors,?upon hearing what Barnard had lost, rallied to help. Bill Walker, a co-owner of Lost Love Lounge on Franklin Avenue, hosted a fundraiser for Barnard and his girlfriend, Emily Reichley, who helps run the pop-up.

Another friend started a Facebook page seeking donations and help for the couple. They collected money through their website. All told, they received about $900 in donations, Barnard said.

And so, on Friday night, thanks to all the support -- including 80 pounds of donated shrimp -- Barnard and his girlfriend were able to open their pop-up again and make enough money to be back in business.

"It's pretty heartwarming, to say the least," Barnard said. "The community stood up for us. It was just amazing. It was one of those great things that happened in New Orleans and would never happen anywhere else."

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/marigny_community_rallies_arou.html

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