67th Week Update - Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project

Hi Folks,

Setting the Pace

With the introduction of the new Bobby’s Buddies “Thank You” and “Sorry We Missed You” Cards in our One Can A Week food donation program here in the Miles Neighborhood, we established another milestone.

We are the first to be selected and enrolled in a unique citywide umbrella community service program created by Bobby Rich. As we proved over and over again these past 15 months, your one can, like your one vote, is all that is necessary to change the world.

The First to Say Yes

If you remember the story, Ed Altamirano was the first person I spoke to about One Can A Week. We stood in the middle of Miles about 50 feet from his home and discussed the viability of a One Can A Week program. He said he was a city inspector and often saw empty shelves and empty refrigerators in the homes he inspected. Amazing how he turned out to be the one person in the Miles neighborhood who had first hand experience with the hunger problem here in Tucson and the one person I needed to meet to help keep me motivated.

Three More Not So Auspicious Firsts
On the left is the first house I started with lo those many months ago so I thought it proper to place the first Bobby’s Buddies “Thank You” Card where it all began.

Nobody was behind the red door on the right, so they got the first Bobby’s Buddies “Sorry We Missed You” Card.

In the center is a neighbor’s wall where I saw from afar the first can of donated food when I launched One Can A Week.

Maybe a Guinness World Record Holder
Every Saturday after I set up my One Can A Week table, Ron Abbott the owner of the Rincon Market hands me a bank pouch stuffed with money. I zip open the pouch to find lots of bills and oodles of coins. While I nod and smile hello to the breakfast folks, I stand at the table and separate the coins and bills which I count at home later.

This week the total was $166.18. That’s the most so far and it got me thinking. Does the Guinness Book of Records have a record category for the most money raised by a Styrofoam cup? If they do than I’m sure the Rincon Market Styrofoam soup cup could be a contender.

With a little time on my hands and not much more than donated cash results to report; I decided to visit the Guinness web site. My first inquiry returned “Your search - most money raised by a Styrofoam cup - did not match any documents.” Well at least there’s still hope. I’ll keep looking and I know that Styrofoam cup is going to keep on collecting. Record or not, it’s a real winner for the hungry folks here in Tucson.

It Takes Charm

Barbara Farragut set up our banana donation program a few months ago and in just a few weeks my “lack of something” ended it. I would stop by at the appointed time and they had nothing.

Then this Sunday I saw two large and two small banana boxes waiting for me at Lenny’s house on 12th Street. He said Barbara will personally pick up the bananas every Sunday when she stops to buy her morning coffee and paper after church.

With the addition of the 116 lbs. of bananas, and the 24 lbs. of food from the Axis Food Mart, we collected a total of 290 lbs. of food this week and $27.00 in cash. Yeah, Barbara!

See you Sunday,

Peter