Help Creole Chef Christopher’s Healing, Stability

By Ben Allaway for Christopher Barrow

Updated September 1:

My friend Chef Christopher had a triple bypass open heart surgery on August 7. He came through okay, is home, but still has severe pain and is limited in what he can lift, only a half gallon of milk.

He is a great guy and very worthy of your support!

Christopher will be not be working for a couple of months and needs another $5,500.00 to pay his bills and, just as soon as he’s able, to get to New Orleans to supervise putting his mother’s house on the market.

He is behind on rent and needs grocery money as well as travel and legal expenses, see below for details.

Cooking simple meals for himself, short walks in the neighborhood and doing laundry keep him plenty busy. Friends and Paratransit take him on errands and doctor visits. A nurse and Physical Therapy each come twice a week, and he is improving!

Please donate whatever you can to my talented, generous friend, who is so very grateful to all of you who are helping him out. He knows he is blessed!

Below is a shorter version of the original post:

Christopher Barrow is a Creole chef in Des Moines, Iowa. Originally from New Orleans, he is a warm, generous soul who needs some help for his health and future stability. He has been a real light in my life, his food is spiced with much love from his main culinary inspiration–his mother!–and has warmed both my body and my spirit. I'm gathering some folks together to help him out in his time of urgent need. 

Christopher has congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease. He had a triple bypass surgery August 7th, came through okay, and his healing slowly.

In the midst of Christopher’s own health crisis, his mother passed away. He made it home to see her, then went back again for the funeral. She was a hard worker and loved people, two qualities she passed on to Christopher. 

The two trips were each important, and costly.  A private caterer, he has not been able to work much because of his worsened condition and now the surgery. He looks forward to returning to work in a couple of months, has medical insurance, but his other bills and rent are impossible to meet.

He now has the chance to collect a modest inheritance in equity from the sale of his mother’s house in New Orleans. This money will make a big difference in his quality of life and stability.

For the inheritance, Christopher will need to hire people to clean and prep the house to put on the market, pack and clear furniture and boxes into storage. He can’t lift, but needs to be there to supervise, and feels he can make the trip as he did the last two.  

The money you donate will go toward his rent and essential bills, the mortgage payment on his mom's house, travel, moving and storage expenses, legal fees, and two months living expenses following surgery til he goes back to work.

Every dollar you give will be matched by the inheritance you’d be helping Christopher realize! If he is not able to get to New Orleans soon to get the house ready, and can’t pay the mortgage, there is a chance it could go into foreclosure, and he’d lose his modest nest egg. He has no other savings.

When Christopher cooks the Creole dishes his mother taught him, he shares his love and history of Louisiana. He has worked in restaurants in the Des Moines Metro, including Exile, Legends, Dahl’s on Ingersoll, food trucks, and his own World-Wide Catering. 

The goal is to get him back to putting his heart into cooking again! 

Please give whatever you can. When the goal is met and Christopher is healthy again, he will want to cook a big Creole dinner for all who helped out!  Thank you for sharing your love, prayers and gifts!