Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Address & Information for Donations and/or Helping Hands

The the response to the article in the Tucson Weekly called "Meals in the Park" is just amazing. :) Many wonderful people have asked for my address to send donations to & some are wanting to help with the work part. :) This will make everything much easier for me, as the fund raising part of this endeavor is very time consuming for me. And I always need help with the chopping, peeling, slicing, cooking, etc.

Here is the information for donations or any other helping hands:

L. Karin Elliott
3364 E. Popinac Loop
Tucson, AZ 85716
520-326-2236 (Noon to 10 P.M.)
email: LKarinElliott@aol.com

I am not set up for charge cards, as this is not a business, just gifts from the heart for people in need.

Also, I received an email from the Newsroom of our local Channel 4 (NBC). They would like to come to the park & do a live report for the news on this. Wow !! :)

I am trying to integrate back into Tucson, which is not so easy after being on the Hopi Reservation for almost 3 days. The life there is much slower & peaceful than in the city. And the Kachina Ceremonies are always mind altering in a wonderful way.

Irina donated 6 large pizzas today & together we then took them to fed a bunch of homeless people in the two parks. We tried to make up a little bit for my not bringing any food this past weekend for the first time because of my being out of town. They all LOVED the pizza, it was a huge TREAT for everyone. :) Thank you sweet Irina for your generosity & kindness !! :) You are so precious to me, dear Sister of my Heart !!

While delivering the pizzas a woman & her cute lil' dog walked up to me & said that she recognized me from the article in the Tucson Weekly & could she have my address, she wants to send a donation check to help out. :) It is incredible how it all ripples out & gets bigger & more fun. The MIRACLES are just amazing !! :) And all of you are amazing too with your loving kindness in supporting me with this !! :)

A great big "Thank You" also goes to my dearest friend Laurel in Oregon for sending another check this month for food, in addition to her buying all the water for the homeless each month !!  Laurel, you are an Angel !!   :)

It is 4:00 in the morning & I need to get some sleep now. Good Night to you all & may you sleep with the Angels !! :)

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Tucson Weekly "Meals in the Park" Article

ah pek

If you click on the link right above here (ah pek) you will be able to read the story written in the "Tucson Weekly" newspaper about my feeding the homeless. :) It is called "Meals in the Park".

Chicken & Zucchini Alfredo Pasta Salad

Another week & more excitement to share !! :)

Today the "Tucson Weekly" newspaper published the wonderful story Mari Herreras wrote about my feeding the homeless called "Meals in the Park". It is lovely & I wish you could read it. I just don't know yet how to attach links to this blog. The article went out to many of you via email & some I mailed using "snail mail". Of course I don't like the photo of myself, but isn't that normal ?? Aren't we always critical of the photos of ourselves ??!! Thank you Will Ferguson for taking the picture, you did a great job !! :) This is not a reflection of your talent, it is just me being self-critical & human, I guess. :) I am hoping that the story will generate donations for more food & maybe even the treat of a cookie once in a while. :) As of this Monday together we all have fed 1,100 homeless people. :) How incredible is that number ??!!

Thank you so very, very much Mari for putting your Heart into my story !! :) I hope that you & Will will come to join us for some of the meals in the Parks at times. We all enjoyed having you there with us & you are always welcome !! :)

A great big Thank You goes to Jean & Leesa in Canyon, Texas, for the huge box of clothes & especially all the T-shirts from Leesa that were donated. The ladies clothes I will either take up to the Reservation or incorporate into the Sixth Annual Native American Christmas Project this year. On Monday I took all those new T-shirts with me for the homeless to go through. They all were gone within 5 minutes, except a few of the smaller (medium) ones. You should have seen the excitement & it impressed me that most everyone only took one shirt, so everyone else could have one too. :) Again, the comradery there is phenomenal.

Thank you also Jean for the check you snuck into the clothes package. :)
You have no idea how much it was needed & how you rescued me. :) I had borrowed from the homeless drinking water fund to be able to feed everyone last weekend. With your generous help I was able to pay the water fund back (which I had planned to do somehow) & I even have homeless food money left over for the next weekends meals. :) I am sending you a great big gratitude hug & I hope that I will meet you someday !! :)

We are having triple digit temperatures still here in Tucson & are waiting for the Monsoons to arrive, so it will cool off a little. I have learned that some of the homeless people "hang-out" inside the Libraries during the day to read & to use the computers there. And it is cool inside. :) A clever way to stay comfortable while reading & learning. :) It amazes me how creative people can be to survive.

This coming weekend I am taking a dear friend from Ohio up to the Hopi Reservation for a Kachina Dance in the village of Hotevilla. Those who know me well know that I was very close to Dan Evehema, who was one of the Hopi Eldest Elders in Hotevilla, who were holding the world together with their prayers. This will be the first weekend in six months that I have not cooked or taken food to the homeless. It will feel strange, but it also will be nice to have a little break from cooking. I'll be cooking for my "Hopi Family" though, but a much smaller amount. :)

Will be back to blogging weekend after this coming one. Bye for now.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Tortilla Soup

A funny thing happened at the Park last Saturday. :) For many months now I have been feeding this Native American man there, but he never really spoke to me. I always saw him sitting & reading a lot, so many times I offered him books that friends had donated. Last weekend he approached me & wanted to know why I feed all these people & why I come back week after week. What is my motive he wanted to know. I told him that this is a gift from my heart to the people there & that I have no reason to do this, other than to make a difference in this world. He proceeded to tell my that the heart is a muscle & that is all it is. It has nothing to do with Love. He kept at me & ended up challenging my Native American spiritual believes. It was all pretty harmless, but it is amazing how a couple of beers can change a persons personality so much !! It was the first time in all these months that I saw him not sober. I always thought that he doesn't drink. Native American people's metabolism doesn't absorb alcohol like our bodies do, so it doesn't take much for them to be intoxicated.

Thank you Becky for bailing me out with your donation for food at the last minute last Friday !! :) Because of your kindness I was able to buy all the salsa that went into the tortilla soup. You are wonderful !! :)

And thank you Rachel Dear, you also bailed me out with your monthly donation last week. Because of you I was able to buy the zucchini that went into the three big pots of soup. I so appreciate what you do every month for the Homeless !! :) And I love the beautiful card with all the purple pansies on it you sent !!

Very much thanks goes also to Laurel-Angel for providing another month of water for our Homeless, especially in this heat. :) It is supposed to be 109 degrees this coming Thursday. :o Today it was 103. Laurel, thank you for your lovely words in your card !!

Mari from the "Tucson Weekly" also chipped into the Food Fund & that really touched me deeply too. Thank you Mari for your caring & for being a part of all this by joining us again while we ate at the Park :) & for writing about this in the "Weekly", which will be in next Thursday's edition on July 22nd. A young man also sat with us & ate, his name is Will & he took the photos of the Homeless & I for Mari's article. Thank you Will, you are very special. :)

It is really difficult most of the time to get enough money together to buy the food & things needed to serve the food on. Sometimes I have to juggle things & borrow from other funds, or even my own bills. I really appreciate everyones help & always send prayers of Gratitude your way !!
Please keep supporting this great cause, so together we can make a small difference in a bunch of people's lives. :)
Good Night now.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Potato Salad with Kielbasa, Fruit Salad

1,022 Homeless people have been fed as of this past Monday, July 5th, in the 5 1/2 months I have been doing this !! :) Wow, this number blows me away.

I would like to thank each & everyone of you once more for helping to make this possible !! :) It is amazing what can be achieved when caring people pull together to make a difference !! :) Thank You All !! :)

Last week I received an email from a woman by the name of Mari who works for the local free newspaper called the "Tucson Weekly". Someone had sent her my blog & suggested that she would do a story on me. She wondered if she could come by to do an interview. Mari came over last Friday to interview & to help peel & cut up a lot of potatoes for the salad I was making for that weekends meals. :) And then on Saturday she came along to help with the meals in the parks. :) Mari even sat at the second park & ate with us there. We all ended talking until about 8 P.M., it was really fun. Mari is such a lovely woman & I am honored to know here. She has a very big & open Heart !! :) Thank you Mari for helping out with the cooking too. This coming Saturday Mari will come to the parks again with me, this time with a photographer to take pictures for her story.
Hopefully the exposure will help to bring in more donations, so I can take lots of fresh fruit & vegetables along every weekend. Right now there is no money for that.

Lizzy also came over last Friday to help with the chopping, peeling & cutting up of things. :) Thank you Lizzy, you helped give my sore wrists a huge break. :) And our little 3 year old Naomi kept all of us entertained. She helped in her own special way. ;)

Delmar (one of my homeless friends), thank you for all the cans of green beans you donated to the cause !! :) Everyone loved them to go along with their potato salad, Kielbasa, fruit salad & chips.

E-Z (aka Carlos, another homeless friend), thank you with all my heart for watching over me at the parks lately & for being there every week now, helping me so very much with dishing out the food & handing out water to everyone !! I very much appreciate your caring help !! :) Keep open your heart, keep smiling, & life will bless you in so many unexpected ways !! :) You'll see !! :)

My friend Katie came over last Sunday with an enourmous bowl of fresh cut-up fruit of watermelon, cantelope & honey-dew melon left over after a political gathering. She also brought over a bunch of huge bags of tortilla chips, some of which I took to the parks last Monday. Thank You Katie, the Homeless loved all the fruit & it was gone pretty quickly, especially in this heat. It was so thoughtful of you to donate all this wonderful food to the cause !! :) This coming weekend I am cooking Tortilla Soup, since you brought over all those tortilla chips, which will work out perfectly. :)

I also wanted to thank Dawn in Massachussetts, for all the clothes she mailed to help. :) You are incredibly kind & you are one of the Blessings in all of this !! The clothes most likely will go to the Native American Christmas Project this year, since it is for women & children. I will go through it & see what I can take to the parks, where there are mostly men though. Dawn is on a limited income & she goes out & buys new clothes to make a difference !! :) What an Angel you are !! :)