Photos by Free Water
Upon entering the venue where A Merry Morrow Christmas was held, there stood a banner reading, “Hope is passion within a vision and reality is the manifestation of yesterday’s dream so we must invest in Tomorrow.” – Larry Morrow. When we asked Larry Morrow if his vision for A Merry Morrow Christmas was fulfilled, he simply smiled, and said, “Yes, seeing those families light up, and have their Christmases made was the ultimate vision I had for this initiative. I’m very satisfied with the results.” 2016 has belonged to Larry, curating everything from upscale nightlife experiences, to benefit concerts, with everyone from Drake to P Diddy. Breaking down Larry Morrow’s 2016 would take forever, but even with that hectic of a schedule, he took the time out to execute what ended up being an event filled with Holiday joy.
What is A Merry Morrow Christmas?Â
On Monday, December 19th, Larry Morrow surprised 3 families with all of the gifts from their wishlists. There was a special appearance from Tyreke Evans, and a special donation from former New Orleans Saint, Keenan Lewis. Larry Morrow says of A Merry Morrow Christmas, “Assisting GOD in his work, and just paying it forward, is one of the best feelings in the world. It was truly a pleasure to be able to put a smile on these kids/families faces today. Much love to Tyreke Evans, and Keenan Lewis for joining me in the whole process. It was literally a vision that GOD made come together. Big shout out to my team.”
All hands on deck for A Merry Morrow ChristmasÂ
When Larry Morrow & JT The Publicist put their heads together, great things happen. When those great things happen, Larry and JT make sure that the proper outlets are on deck to document. Local new stations, Edward Buckles, Free Water, Delaney George, and of course the leader in Hip Hop culture, The Source, were all there to capture Larry’s vision come to life. Once the United Way showed up with the families who would be receiving the gifts, all cameras began to flash, journalists were running for stories, the entire atmosphere made everyone involved feel really special. News crews, and local photographers/videographers also scrambled to capture photos of Tyreke Evans, who remained a willing participant throughout the event.
Getting Tyreke Evans involved with Tyreke & LarryÂ
We sat down with Tyreke Evans, and Larry Morrows together, and they shared how the partnership for A Merry Morrow Christmas came together. We asked Larry how did he know to call on Tyreke for assistance, and he said, “Well, Tyreke is a friend of mine, and I know that whenever I call him to get on board, he’s always willing to go above and beyond. I called him last minute, and the next thing I knew we were at his house putting money up, then we had gifts. That’s always how Tyreke is.” We asked Tyreke why was he so willing to assist with the A Merry Morrow Christmas, and he said, “I remember that there wasn’t anything like this when I was growing up. I would have loved to have something like this, but I didn’t, so now I want to give back as much as I can.” Before my interview with Tyreke and Larry ended, the third and final family showed up to receive their gifts, and Larry rushed off to be with them. If you hang around Larry for five minutes, you’ll know that that’s who he is. So we continued to talk to Tyreke about his time in New Orleans with The Pelicans, music, charity, and more. Tyreke said that his favorite part of New Orleans is the food, and that he enjoys trying a bunch of different restaurants. He said of New Orleans, “Before I came here, people were telling me all the bad things about New Orleans, but from the minute I got here, I’ve seen nothing but good.” Of course we couldn’t let him go without asking him what’s on his playlist, and he said, “A little bit of everything, Future of course, Lil Wayne, I get pumped for games to a lot of the new stuff, and oh yeah Fabolous.” Once we were finished talking to Tyreke, he too ran to be with the third, and final family.
On the celly with Keenan LewisÂ
Okay, crazy Saints fan, has only missed 2 games in 12 years, one being this season, Larry Morrow tells you you’re about to call Keenan Lewis, what do you do? Well, you call Keenan Lewis, he’s a Westside legend. We spoke to Keenan about a number of things, just like Tyreke. Music, charity, New Orleans, A Merry Morrow Christmas, why did he get involved, we covered it all. Keenan spoke about his involvement in A Merry Morrow Christmas, and he said that he knew that he wanted to be on board, from jump. He said that within his own foundation, The Keenan Lewis Foundation, that he has a bunch of events, planned in a similar image to A Merry Morrow Christmas. We also spoke briefly about New Orleans’ rap scene, a scene that he plays a major role in helping move forward.
Looking back on Monday, A Merry Morrow Christmas was so much bigger than we even realized while there. These 3 families took home gifts that changed their entire season. Beyond the gifts, the mothers could tell that someone actually cared. That someone is Larry Morrow, Tyreke Evans, Keenan Lewis, United Way, The NFL, The New Orleans Pelicans, and so many more people who took their time out to share in the experience. We’re already looking forward to covering next year’s event, and helping out in anyway that we can.
GOD Bless, TheRadioShaq
