My Story on Faith

For last weekends meal of feeding the homeless I needed a cooking helper, since Hilde is in Germany on vacation.  I thought I had a young man, Brent, lined up who has been wanting to help cook for a while now, but at the end he couldn't get off work that day.  So I had just a few days to find someone else, especially since there was lots to chop & dice. 

So the search began with my immediate friends & they had other plans made already since it was kind of last minute & Memorial Day weekend.  Everyone kept asking me "what are you going to do??"  And I kept saying over & over that I have faith, it all will work out !!  :)  I must have affirmed that at least six different times, if not more.  :)

Now lets back up a little bit.  ;)   About 30 years ago when my two children, Scott & Steph, were in high school all the kids used to hang out at my house.  :)   I was always the cool Mom & I liked knowing where my kids were at.  :)  One of those friends was Faith Cardenas, who lived right around the corner from us.  I always liked Faith, but we lost touch when we moved away & for all those years I wondered about where she could be & about how her life is.  :)

Recently I saw her name on another friends Facebook & I was really excited to contact her.  After all there are not very many Faith Cardenas', it had to be her !!  :)  Sure enough & we wrote back & forth a couple of times.  Then Faith wanted to get together to visit last Friday or Saturday & I told her that I couldn't because I was cooking for & feeding the homeless, since I didn't have a helper for Saturday it would take both days.  She got really excited & said that she wanted to help & that she really loves to cook.  She also had fed homeless people before on her own.  :)  Faith was had such a fun time & wants to continue to help & bring her young daughter too at times.  :)

So while I was affirming my faith all this time, my friend Faith came back into my life to help.  :) 

I just had to share this sweet story with you all & hopefully it will be an inspiration to you.  :) 

Tuna Pasta Salad with Corn & Tomato Salad

It has become quite hot in Tucson, so I am beginning to cook as much cold food as possible for the homeless being outside in the heat.  A nice cool dinner & salad will still nurture everyone & will keep their body temperature down some.   :)

Faith & I cooked & chopped all afternoon, making Tuna Pasta Salad with lots of diced eggs, pickles & a big amount of tuna.  We also made a cold Corn & diced Tomato Salad that was quite refreshing with lemon juice, oil, garlic, onion powder & lots of fresh parsley.  We also had bread, jalapenos, a few left-over sodas & Gatorade, cold water & cookies.  :)

We fed 56 people tonight & there were many very grateful faces amongst all.   :)   And we all had a great time too seeing old friends & making new ones too.  :)

Faith, thank you for helping me cook today & for also coming to both parks to help serve the food !!  :)  It is wonderful to have you around again !!   :)   Faith grew up with my two children about 30 years ago & was my daughters best friend through most of high school.  She was always at my house, which was the place where all the kids liked to come & hang-out at.  :)  We just recently reconnected again after a very long time of having lost contact.   :)   Facebook is wonderful for finding old friends !!  :)

J.J., thank you so much for coming to help serve & for your dear contribution !!  :)  Your Kindness made me cry today (happy tears) & it so will help with getting more food & supplies.  :)  I also wanted to mention how dear it was for you to so lovingly clean out that bowl today.  It didn't get lost in the shuffle & I just wanted to say an extra thank you for that !!  :) 

Dear Lee, thank you for helping serve & for taking Faith & J.J. home after we fed everyone !!  :)   That was truly an Act of Kindness since you weren't feeling well to start with.  I appreciate all your loving help & caring !!  :)   I am proud to call you my Friend !!  :)

Diane & I ended up at LaBotana & we had two margaritas each.  :o   We had so much fun trying to figure out which homeless we both knew & shared stories of some of our experiences.  Diane knew Darryl Chee, who was the reason why I started feeding the homeless three years ago.  Diane started feeding the homeless breakfast recently at another park & many who we fed tonight knew her from that & her previous job.  :)  She is a very kind & caring woman & I'm happy we connected.  :) 

Dave & Linda , as usual a great big thank you shout-out to you for all your loving support of this endeavor !!  :)  I soooo love you both !!   :)  

Nan, a special thank you goes to you for all the odds & ends of food, etc., you brought to my home for the homeless !!  :)  It was so sweet of you to have it all sorted out & grouped together.  Lots of it I was able to use for the homeless & the rest I gave to the people on the Yaqui Reservation, who were ever so appreciative.  :)  Lee & I took it all down there & we had fun doing that.  :) 

Marilyn, I missed your cute & happy face today !!  :)  It just wasn't the same without you there !!  I hope you had a great time though !!  :)   See you next time.  :)

Time now to put a couple of very tired legs up.  :)  

Everyone, sleep with the Angels & have a joy filled day tomorrow & a safe Memorial Day !!  :)

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Mushrooms, Cauliflower & Broccoli

Another meal served & 34 hungry people fed today.  :)  The homeless always love spaghetti when we make it & the meal is always, more than usual, so much appreciated.  :)  We heard many, many thank yous, which makes us feel good too.  :)

My wonderful neighbors Sue & Lee came over this afternoon & together we cooked three big pots of Spaghetti & meat sauce with fresh mushrooms, broccoli & cauliflower mixed right into it.  We used 8 pounds of pasta, 12 pounds of ground beef, 6 huge cans of spaghetti sauce, 3 lbs. of mushrooms, 3 lbs. of broccoli & 2 great big heads of cauliflower.  Then we also made a huge container filled with tossed salad, which included cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados & 2 big bundles of cilantro.  The cilantro gives it such a wonderful taste & is a quite unexpected surprise.  We also had cookies, water, Gatorade & sodas. 

Since there weren't very many people today at the parks, most of the homeless got seconds & thirds & I still have a bunch of food left over.  I am thinking of donating it to a friend who feeds many hungry people every Wednesday on the Yaqui Reservation on the south side of Tucson.  :)  

Thank you Sue & Lee for being there for me with the cooking & the big amount of chopping you both did for this meal !!  :)  I always love the quality time in the kitchen when we chop & stir, the best conversations come out of that.  :)  And it is such a great way to get to know each other better.  :) 

Lee, thank you for donating all those sodas once again & the Gatorade, along with some candy to take to the parks.  You are a very kind soul !!  :)  

And so are Dave & Linda for always helping out with donating some of the food to cook.   :)   I am so blessed with my wonderful neighbors who have huge caring & loving hearts !!  :)  

Marilyn & J.J., thank you both for serving the food with me once more & Marilyn for helping clean up the kitchen afterwards.  :)   And thank you for being such a loyal friend !!   :)

J.J., you are so great in just taking over & doing whatever has to be done to get the job done at the parks !!  :)   I am very grateful to you & very glad that you are back again !!  :)   It's also great to have some male muscles & male energy with us too !!  :)
Once you start this, it's hard to stay away.  :)  I know, I went through it too.  I just started missing some of the people in the parks & the friends we made over time & had to go back again.  :) 

All our Hearts are full & we extend this to all of you who donated money to help out, so we can continue to do this for a long time to go !!   :)  I believe in Karma & all this good Karma is for sure coming back to you in many different ways, but that is not why we do it !!   :)   It is my wish for you all though !!  :)

Good Night now, time to put up my legs & get some rest.   :)

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all the Moms & consider yourself hugged tightly.  :)

Yarn Donations needed for Scarves for the Homeless

My dear friend K.C. asked me if I could use knitted or crochet scarves for the Homeless for this coming Christmas.  :)  She is part of the "Crafts 'n Chat Meetup" & some of the members have volunteered already to start knitting & crocheting these awesome warm scarves.  :)   What a wonderful idea K.C.!!   :) 

Does anyone have any yarn laying around that you won't need that we can donate to the people making these scarves ??   :)   It would help out so much, especially since we need about 60 to 75 scarves again this year, maybe even more by Christmas time.  I will know more as it gets closer. 

The Homeless like to wear dark colors, so they can blend in & I always have many more men than women.  So darker colors would be best, like dark blue, black or dark gray.   :)

You can email me at   LKarinElliott@aol.com   if you can help in any way.   :)

Thank You Ever So Much !!   :)