Fridays with Benefits

Liberty's Kitchen and the Better Than Ezra Foundation close the week with a pair of fundraisers.

Two worthy causes, Liberty's Kitchen and the Better Than Ezra Foundation, will host benefit events on Friday. "Come Grow with Us" at the Howlin' Wolf will present a combination of food and music to raise money to help at-risk youth, and the BTE Open funds efforts to support the renewal of New Orleans' physical and cultural heritage. 

"Come Grow with Us" will benefit Liberty's Kitchen, which helps young New Orleanians with its Youth Development Program - which helps 16-24-year-olds prepare for working futures - and the Healthy School Lunch Program, which provides low-income public school students healthy food. The event starts at 7 p.m. and features music by Mia Borders and the Brass-a-Holics. Food will be provided by seven celebrity chefs: Jeff Baron and Bart Bell (Crescent Pie and Sausage Company), Adam Biderman (The Company Burger), Aaron Burgau (Restaurant Patois), Justin Devillier (La Petite Grocery), Alon Shaya (Domenica), Stephen Stryjewski (Cochon) and Nathaniel Zimett (Boucherie). Musical entertainment will be provided by Mia Borders and the Brass-A-Holics Go-Go Brass Funk Band.

Tickets are $60 per person at the door.

The BTE Open is a two-part event starting at 2 p.m. with celebrity bowling at the Rock 'n' Bowl. Past and present band members will be on hand to bowl, along with Marc Broussard, Emerson Hart of Tonic, actor Jonathan Silverman and his actress wife Jennifer Finnigan, actress Tania Raymonde, and more. For the first time, there will be spectator tickets available for $50, and while they don't include bowling, they do include open bar and food. The party will move to the Harrah's Casino Theater for the Patrons' Party, which starts at 7 p.m. It will include entertainment by Better Than Ezra and Friends, as well as live and silent auctions. Tickets are $150 per person, and they include an open bar and food. Tickets for both are on sale now from the foundation's website.

 In recent years, the BTE Foundation has made donations to the Make It Right Foundation, NOCCA, Restore or Retreat, and last year it helped break ground on a new playground for Bethune Elementary in the Hollygrove neighborhood.