192nd Week Update - Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project

… UPDATE …

Karla Avalos-Soto, Community Outreach Advocate in the Mayor’s Office sent an email to me Thursday asking, “Could you please arrange to have 20-30 boxes delivered to our office? We are almost out :) Thank you.”

Ever week the Mayor is handing out boxes to very influential managers in the city. This is such a good thing.

Another good thing is the tag line Karla uses on all of her email correspondence.

“You can join the Mayor's "One Can a Meeting" program. Just bring a non-perishable food item to your meeting. There's a Food Bank collection box right in the conference room.” (See photo below.)

The Little Cabriolet Makes A Very Big Difference

A few weeks ago, Barbara Farragut, our 12th Street volunteer, asked me if I were going to get a little truck to make the pick ups for the Mayor’s program. She could see that the program was growing each week.

Unfortunately, right now I have to stick with the Cabriolet because, like most folks, money is the issue. She looked at me and said, “Let me see what I can do.”

In no time she got some interest from a number of charities in town but because One Can A Week is not a 501.3.c (what the legal folks call a nonprofit) there were tax and liability issues. One Can A Week won’t be a nonprofit because I want every can and every penny we raise to go directly to the food bank. A nonprofit organization costs money to start and maintain. That same money could be used to feed a bunch of kids breakfast every morning.

Undaunted, Barbara is pressing on. She has one car rental company interested and one friend who is currently vacationing on Majorca in the Mediterranean Sea until October. Something will happen I’m sure because Barbara was first told no when she asked for banana donations from a company. Now every Sunday we have banana donations. No always means maybe to Barbara.

It’s All About Pick Ups

Her name was Erin and I could tell she had not been at the food bank donation dock before just by her first question. “Do I just ring the bell?

She was delivering donations gathered at her young daughter’s birthday party. That must have been some party since her Mercedes trunk was stuffed full.

I helped her fill a cart then pushed it up the ramp. We talked briefly about One Can A Week which was new to her and then she asked if I pick up the food.

That is the biggest concern for nearly everyone I talk to about One Can A Week. They would donate more often to the Food Bank if it were just easier to get the food there. Well … I’m working on it.

We collected a total of 245 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $53.00, two checks for $45.00 and $8.00 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter