Potato Salad with Ham & Double Frosting Brownies

Time to catch up on this & last weeks happenings before another weekend comes & goes & a very busy & great two weeks it has been.  :)

This Monday Emily Guggenmos from Channel 4 News (NBC) came to the parks to report a segment on me & on Feeding the Homeless for their series called "Making A Difference".  It showed on the 4:00 PM News on Tuesday & then again on the morning news the next day.  Emily did a wonderful job, even though I was really nervous to be standing in front of a news camera.  :)   Thank you Emily for being patient with me !!  :)

If you would like to watch the report, here is the link to click on:


 http://www.KVOA.com/news/tucson-woman-making-a-difference-for-the-hungry/

I received a number of calls & a few donations so far from the news report.  Thank you Lupita for your call shortly after the story aired & your very kind donation !!  :)   My friend Denise was at my house when you called & after you & I hung up, she was so excited & said "I am soooooooooo glad I was here to see this".  It was a very precious moment.  I even received a call from a former customer from my Rainbow Moods days of many years ago.  How fun !!  :)

And thank you Steve of Royal Automotive for your donation after you saw the News !!  :)  You are very much appreciated for your caring.  I would like to ask everyone to support Steve, especially the women.  He is very, very honest & will repair your vehicle without taking advantage of anyone.  Here is the link to his garage   http://royalautomotiveservice.com/   & his phone number is 628-1885.  I have been taking my vehicle to Steve for years & I was referred to him by another woman. 

Here is a funny story to share with you.  :)   On Wednesday I received a call from an older man who wanted to know how he could help out.  I mentioned to him that donating food is great & so would a monetary donation be, which is easier for me, because then I can buy the foods I need for the coming weekends feeding.  I don't have much room to store lots of food, since I do this out of my home.  He said that "a donation would be fine, but there are so many crooks out there", so he "wants to meet me to make sure that I am not a "crook".  :)  He will be coming to the park this Saturday.  If you look at the TV news report you will see that the hungry homeless people are lined up behind my car to get fed.  You also see me handing out plates of food & then you see the people eating in the park, many sitting on the ground.  So I got a big chuckle out of being told that I might be a crook.   :)   I look forward to meeting this man tomorrow.  :)  

Now to track back to last weekend.  We fed 39 people on Saturday & 55 on Monday for a total of 94 altogether.  That is the most I ever fed in one weekend.  At one point I got really panicky because I realized that I didn't have enough food for everyone.  I normally fed around 70 people each weekend.  So this is growing bigger as we go along & I am preparing to cook extra for this coming weekend.  So far the grand total fed is 1,410 people.  :)  Wow !!  

I was so glad that Jennifer R. came both days to help Carlos & I dish out the food.  She also brought a dish of chopped jalapenos for everyone to add to the potato salad with lots of chunks of ham in it that Marci & I made together.  I also got creative & put together 10 lbs. of chopped tomatoes & a huge can of corn with a lemon-olive-oil dressing.  The jalapenos mixed great in that too.  :)  Jennifer is planning on joining us whenever her jobs allows.  I really enjoy her, she is a lot of fun to be around.  :)   She is definitely a Blessing. 

And so is Buck from  http://www.sugarpiesfood.com/  who made two huge sheets of Double Fudge Brownies with Praline Frosting, which were a huge success, as usual.  :)  Please take a peek at Buck's blog for some really incredible recipes & fun pointers.  Buck has been such a positive support of Feeding the Homeless & I know that I always can count on him to donate sweet treats for the people in the parks.  His treats are just soooooooooooo good !!  :)   I like to nibble on one each time too.  :)  The Brownie recipe is on his blog if you got the craving after reading this.  :)

I would like to shout out a great big Thank You to Irina for donating a brand-new SaladShooter to the cause !!  :)   It was so helpful in chopping the 36 eggs & 2 big jars of pickles for the potato salad last weekend.  :) 

And I would like to send my Gratitude to Rachel R. for her thoughtful donation to help out with the increasing cost of the utilities from all the cooking. 

Also to the dear lady with the three children at DeAnza Park last weekend, who told me she read about me in the Tucson Weekly & then squeezed a donation into my hand.  I wish I had your name & email address, so I could thank you in that way. 

Thank you also Steve R. for your second donation & for keeping your word on continuing to help out. :)

Thank you goes to Gary Mc.... for also helping out & your really dear words & your card was very pretty.  :)   If you are reading this, please send me your email address. 

Liz G., thank you so much for your check & your caring !!  :) 

Thank you everyone for helping to make this possible & for opening your Hearts to the people in the parks who at least spend two less days being hungry.  They are so grateful to you all for the wholesome & nurturing food we together are able to give them.  Maybe as time goes we can add another day & another day after that.  It is in God's hands. 

Not too long ago there lived a Lakota Holy Man & Spiritual Leader by the name of Fools Crow who performed many Miracles & healed many people during his time long on earth.  He always called himself a "Hollow Little Bone" for Creator to work through.  He used to say that it was his job to keep his Hollow Little Bone clean, so Creator could use him each & every day.  He had this exercise he did cleaning himself out each morning, taking out the bad & filling himself with the good.  :)

All of us are Hollow Little Bones helping together to make this Feeding the Homeless project possible.  Thank you soooo much each & everyone of you !!  :)