Thanksgiving Dinner in the City Parks

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Homeless in two City parks.  :)
I wanted to provide it a little early, since on the actual Thanksgiving day many churches & organizations open their doors to feed the Homeless & this way they all will get two great big meals, instead of just one.  :)    We fed 77 people altogether & left behind many happy tummies.  :)   And everyone had a wonderful time.  :)

I am so very, very grateful to each & everyone of you who helped in some way or another !!  :)   It definately takes a village to feed the Homeless.  :)

We had 5 huge turkeys, 2 great big trays of stuffing thanks to our dear Hilde, 2 huge pots of mashed potatoes, plus Hilde's famous gravy, one huge pot each of corn & green beans with bacon.  Also a big container full of tossed salad, a huge bowl of Jello with fruit & lots of Cool Whip, cookies, chocolates, & bottled water.  We also had cranberry sauce, which I forgot about & I realized after I got back home that it was still in my car.  :o   :) 

Thank you Cristina, Rae, & Marianne for roasting the turkeys & thank you Gopal for brining & smoking the other two.  Our cars & my home smelled so wonderful all afternoon & evening from the smoked turkeys.  :)   I kept smelling my hands.  :)   It was so kind of all of you to take on a project that big !!  :) 

Thank you Elizabeth & Alberto for donating two of the turkeys for roasting !!
You are always there when I call for your help.  :)  

Thank you Marianne, Mary Ann, & Sue for helping Hilde & me out in the kitchen, especially at the end when things got a little hectic with loading up, etc.   :)   You are so appreciated !!  

Thank you so much Mary Ann & Marilyn for helping us serve at the parks, we had a lot of food to dish out.  :)  

Thank you Dave & Linda for providing some of the groceries for the meal & for treating the Homeless with all those Hershey Kisses.   :)    And thank you Dave for loading up the cars once more & getting us on our way.   :)   You are our muscle man.  ;)   

Thank you Rae & Sara for baking 200 wonderful cookies for the occasion & making it so easy for me by putting them in 100 little bags.   :)   You even borrowed a friends kitchen to be able to make them all.  :)  The cookies were a big hit.  It seems that many of the Homeless have a great big sweet tooth.  :)  I know the feeling.  ;)

Thank you Marilyn for making that huge bowl of Jello with the fruit cocktail, even though you don't like to cook at all.  That was such a great gift of yourself !!   :)

And thank you each & everyone who donated funds from far & near to make this possible once more !!  :)  Your Generosity & Kindness touched me deeply & I will write more about all that in the Christmas blog entry. 

Once again ................... Kindness is alive in Tucson & in America !!   :)    

You all are so incredible & I am so humbled by each one of you !!   :)




 

Kindness In Tucson

A few days ago one of my refrigerators / freezers for the Homeless stopped working & the timing was terrible, since the big Thanksgiving dinner is in two weeks & there is lots of food to cool & freeze. 

Once more I called Chris Edwards, the owner of Tucson Appliance Company & asked if he would be open to sending someone over to hopefully repair the fridge. 
Chris didn't want to repair it & insisted on sending another fridge over.  I argued with this kind man but he insisted to having another delivered the next afternoon & the old one hauled off.  It arrived yesterday, free of charge & it is the second refrigerator Chris has donated to my Feeding the Homeless.   :)

Chris' Kindness is amazing & made me cry once more .... happy tears of course !!  :)

Please everyone support this man & his business, he so deserves our support !!  :)  
I am so very grateful to Chris !!  :)  

Kindness is Alive Here in Tucson !!   :)  

And Lots More Sandwiches

Since I had so many sandwiches left I headed back to the parks again today.  :)  Another 32 homeless people were fed & they were again very thankful for the food. 

Megan, your Kindness fed 76 hungry people this weekend & I am ever so grateful to you for being so thoughtful !!  :)  

I got to see some old friends & a lot of new people again.  Santa Rita Park was filled with the homeless & it hurt my heart to see that.  Our slower economy is definitely visible in those parks.  Well, we'll just keep trucking along & do what we can to help out.  :) 

The Thanksgiving meal is just around the corner !!  :)   And not too far after that there will be Christmas food.  :)

Lots of Sandwiches

Today I received a call from Megan, who works for the University of Phoenix, right here in Tucson.  She shared with me that she had read my blog & that there are a lot of sandwiches left over from an event there.  She wondered if I could use them for the homeless.  :) 

When I got there to pick them up I was totally amazed at how many there were, along with three big trays of potato & pasta salads.  Also a big tray of cookies & brownies, pickles & a large bag of chips.  :)

Today I was able to feed 44 people at Santa Rita, Estevan, & Stone Park & I still have a bunch of sandwiches left over, so I can go again tomorrow.  :)  

Thank you Megan for your thoughtfulness & for caring so much for the people who need food right here in our city !!   :)   You are an Angel !!   :)

Calling all Angels !! :)

It is with much excitement that I am sharing with you all that Hilde (Now 88 years young) & I have decided to cook a big Thanksgiving & also a big Christmas dinner for the homeless people in Santa Rita Park & in Estevan Park again this year.  :)

I am humbly asking for donations to pull this off once more.   :)

My dream is to get enough money together so I can make gift bags again for the homeless this Christmas.  :)  They so enjoyed them last year.

For Thanksgiving, like last year, I will need six volunteers to roast & carve a turkey each, on Saturday, November 17th, & then to bring it here in the early afternoon.  Hilde & I will cook the rest needed for the meals.    :)

To all you bakers out there, for Christmas it would be awesome to have lots of home-baked cookies once more.   :)   It looks like we will be serving the dinner on Saturday, December 22nd.  I will need the cookies at least 3 days before then, as they will have to be counted out & bagged.

Thank you all soooo much for your Kindness & Help !!   :)

Karin

L. Karin Elliott
3364 E. Popinac Loop
Tucson, AZ 85716
520-326-2236
LKarinElliott@aol.com

Endings

Sometimes good things come to an end & it becomes time to move on. 

On Monday, January 23, 2012, I served the last meal in Tucson's City parks to the homeless there.  In the past two years I have fed, for most part single-handedly, almost 10,000 people.  :)

I have become very tired & it is time to rest for a little while now.  Also, I feel that I have come full circle with feeding the homeless since Darryl died recently.  It all began because of Darryl & now that he is no longer here on earth, it is ending with his being gone.  It totally feels complete. 

After a little while I will do something else & I am thinking about something with or for children, as I am ready for some innocence in my life.   :)

Thank you for all your loving & kind support during the past two years !!   :)
I could not have pulled this off without you & I am very, very grateful to each & every one of you !!  :)

With so much Love & even more Gratitude !!

Karin

Christmas 2011

Where do I begin ?? My Heart is overflowing with Gratitude to each & everyone of you who helped make this possible another Season !!  :)

It has been another successful Christmas & the Homeless people in both parks received new socks, underwear, new jackets, t-shirts, beanies, gloves, some scarves, some hand-crochet blankets, along with new tooth brushes & tooth paste, also some deodorant, shampoo, razors, tissues & bars of soap.  There were cracker snacks, soups, peanut butter treats, cereal, energy bars, etc., things that would help when hungry.  :)

And many books to read for everyone.  We were able to put at least two to three books in each grocery gift bag.  Trader Joe's was kind enough to let me have about 100 bags for this.  :)  I told them that the homeless would advertise for Trader Joe's that way.  :)

We put together many Christmas baggies filled with lots of home-baked cookies, & candy.  Everyone got candy canes, plus lots of other candy & chocolates too.   :)  

The children at "Our Mother of Sorrow Preschool" made Christmas cards & they were precious, being made by 4 year olds.  :)   Thank you Mrs. Davis & Mrs. Diaz !!   :)

We also had a whole bunch of really incredible Christmas cards to put into the bags, which were made by older children at "Canyon View Elementary School" & by "Pueblo Gardens School".  :)  These cards were so beautiful & what these children wrote touched us all very deeply.  Some had glitter on them & others Angels & beautiful drawings.  Some of them made me cry, just reading them.   Thank you Ms. Rodriguez-Loya, Ms. Saldamando, Ms. Aubrey, Ms. Foster, & Ms. Semler !!  :)

Tania (11) & Adiel (6) Carvajal also made some precious Christmas cards too.  Thank you both !!  :)  And thank you to this beautiful family, the "Cookie Family",  for donating some money for all of this !!  :)

On December 19th, Hilde made her much requested meat loaf & her famous gravy for Christmas dinner at the two parks & we added mash potatoes, corn, green beans with bacon, & jello with lots of fruit in it, along with whip cream & cookies. Everyone received a can of soda, which Sara Turner & Virginia Nurre donated so kindly !!  :)   Thank you my dear Hilde for making all those huge trays of meat loaf for two days & the two great big pots of gravy too.  The meal was much appreciated by everyone !!  :)  For those of you who don't know, Hilde is 87 years young & she has cooked with me for over a year now twice a week, every week.  :)  She is such an inspiration to us all !!  :)

Thank you Susie Thompson for making the two huge bowls of jello with all the fruit for dessert !!  :)  I know that wasn't easy when you are not used to cooking such huge quantities.

My dear friend Jane Ash donated two huge wreaths & we hung one in each park along with some gold lame' streamers.  The wreaths were beautiful & helped everyone there to get into the Christmas Spirit.  I had Christmas music blasting from my car radio the whole time we served the food & handed out all the gift bags.  :)   All the food servers wore Santa hats.  :)   It was truly magical & will forever remain a memory.  :)

I have a long list of people to thank for helping to pull all this off one way or another.  Much, much THANKS goes to each & everyone of you:

Cristina Ball for all the cookies & candy & for all your loving support of this for over a year now !!  :)

Jane Ash for the wreaths, santa hats, candy, chocolates, hygene items, beanies, socks, gloves & the money on top of all this.  You are a Blessing, Jane !!  :)

My neighbor Sue Bradford for the candy, beanies & tissues.  Thanks Dear !!  :)

Laurel Gregory, my long time friend in Oregon, for the 16 brand-new jackets & all those warm socks, beanies, gloves & underwear.  And Sarah Robles for helping with that too.   :)   You are The Best !!  :)

Marian & George for baking a bunch of Christmas tree cookies.  :)

Diana (Hilde's friend) for donating food, gloves, scarves & some money for the meat loaf.  :)  Thank you also for your continued support, you are great !!  :)

The "Helping Hands Crafters" for all those incredible hand crochet blankets & for all the hand knit caps.  Your hands were very busy & are very much appreciated !!  :)

Celina Pena for donating socks, beanies, books & deodorant.  :)

Tracy (Cristina's friend) for all the hygene items, cookies & candy !!  You are awesome Girl !!  :)

Maggie & Brian Disbury for all the food, beanies & hygene items, especially all the Energy Bars.  :)  You two are very beautiful people & I am so grateful for you both !!  :)

Virginia Nurre for the huge amount of cookies you baked & for putting them in smaller bags to make it easier for me to distribute.  You are ever so thoughtful, Dear !!  :)  And thank you for the candy & the books too. 

Jeanne Pilegi thanks for all the cookies you donated !!  You are much appreciated always !!  :)

Reilly Zoda donated four huge boxes of books.  It is so fun now when I drive up to the parks to see the homeless sitting there reading your books.  It always puts a smile on my face.  :)  Thank you Reilly for caring !!  :)

My dear Mary Helen (83), thank you for all the candy you brought over to help out !!  :)

And my dear Katherine Knez (also 83 years young) for your kind donation !!  :)

The Rosary Makers Club of Tucson for all the paper goods & canned food !!  I so appreciate your continued help with this !!  :)

And then there is Mark Irvin's group, called the Winers & Diners, who collected & sent the biggest donation I have ever received.  I cried happy tears for at least a couple of days & then came another big donation from Frank Dahl, who is also a member of the club.  More tears of course.  :)   Part of your donations helped so much with the Christmas meal & provided some of the items I didn't have enough of, like warm beanies, gloves, underwear, etc.  You made such a big difference with all your Kindness !!  :)

My neighbor Sara Turner, who donated a lot of soda's & lots of snack food, along with candy too.  :) 

A big thank you goes to Dawn Richards in Minnesota, who once more sent four huge boxes of clothes for the homeless, with many, many t-shirts.  Thank you Dawn for your loving support, you are incredible !!  :)  The postage alone ......   :o

Mark Salcido for letting us borrow your truck so we could transport all those gift bags from my home to the two parks.  We couldn't have done this without your generosity !!  :)

Rachel & Michael Wood for the money you sent so kindly from beautiful San Diego !!  :)

And to Bill & Patti Mages all the way from Chicago, for your dear contribution !!  Thank you so much for thinking of the Homeless !!  :)

I hope that I didn't forget anyone & if I did, please forgive me.  :)  It took a lot to pull all this off for so many people & I think I kept a pretty good record of it all.  I am still tired & need a little time to bounce back to normal again.

A collective THANK YOU to all of you & may the Blessings you gave to the Homeless return to you in many beautiful ways each & every day !!  :)   May You Be Blessed Always & In All Ways !!  :)

My Friend Darryl Chee, R.I.P.

I am really sad right now.  :(   Darryl, who was the reason I began feeding the homeless two years ago, died yesterday, on December 29th, at 3:38 PM.  :(

On Friday Darryl was hit by a car on Grant Road & had been in a coma ever since.  His family came down from the Navajo Reservation yesterday to remove the life support, as Darryl had hardly any brain activity left. 

Tomorrow we will make a Spirit Plate for him at the Park & we will send him "Home" with prayers & a full belly. 

See you again some day Darryl !!

Blankets, Sleeping Bags, Christmas Trees, etc. :)

The nights are getting colder too now here in Tucson & my Heart goes out to the Homeless in the City Parks who are sleeping outside on the ground.  :(

If you have any extra blankets, sleeping bags, comforters, etc., to donate please let me know & I will take them with me to the parks when I go to feed the people there.  :)  

Please spread the word with your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.  Backpacks are always needed too, if anyone has extra.  :)

I also would like to put up a Christmas Tree at each of the two parks we go to.  If any of you have an extra one to donate that would be much appreciated.  :)  Would also need some decorations too.  :)  Nothing fancy, just more symbolic than anything else & to let everyone know that they are loved.  :)

Thank you all my Angels out there in this beautiful world of ours !!  :)

Wisdom for this Day

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."
 - Muhammad Ali

Garage Sale for the Homeless Food Fund

My friend Sherry is putting together her second Garage Sale to raise money so we can continue to feed the homeless.  :)   Her first one was a big success, she was able to raise $300.00.  :)   Thank you Sherry & everyone who contributed !!  :)

If you would like to help out by donating usable items please give me a call at 520-326-2236 so we can coordinate it.  This will happen in about two or three weeks.  We don't have a definite date yet.

Thank you for your Kindness !!  :)

I'm Back !! :)

I'm baaaaaack !! :) I promise to try real hard to continue to blog, although feeding the homeless has grown so much I have gotten busier with feeding more & more people. :) As of this Monday together we have fed 7,631 in 20 1/2 months & are still going strong. This number will grow again tomorrow.

Since it is getting colder again at night it is time to gather blankets & sleeping bags again & some warm clothes for the homeless. Right now the blankets are most important, the clothes can wait a little while longer.  I don't have much room to store things.

We are also starting to plan for Thanksgiving & for Christmas too. So if you would like to help, please contact me. :) For Christmas I could use a lot of cookies again this year for the gift bags for the homeless. :)

The Health Department & I are working together towards a solution that will work for both of us & their kindness & caring is much appreciated !! Now if my crazy & heartless neighbor just would stop calling them every other day complaining about my cooking in my own home !! It amazes me for someone to be that mean & to have that much time on their hands with nothing better to do than to constantly complain about others. Just imagine all the good that could be done with that time instead !! :)

Well, we will carry forward with what we do to make a difference here in Tucson & hopefully be an inspiration to the rest of the country. :)

Have a blessed weekend everyone !! :)

Woman feeding homeless violating food code? | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

Woman feeding homeless violating food code? | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

Please click on the picture in the article & it will open the video of the news report for you.

The Story of Feeding the Homeless in Tucson's City Parks

Here is the link
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11034906/
to the story of feeding the homeless in Tucson's City parks, as created by Buck Bannister.
Thank You Buck, you nailed it !! :)

Article on me in the Tucson Weekly on 2-2-11

I wanted to share this article on me in the  TUCSON WEEKLY  with everyone to keep you up to date on the happenings around Feeding the Homeless people in the parks here. 

If there is an attorney in Tucson who would be open to helping me for free to get a "Acts of Kindness Law" established I really could use the help in doing so.  I would love to have this law cover all of America, as there are other people like me in this country who would be covered by it also, especially bake sales & children's lemonade stands, which are all "Acts of Kindness" too & are part of American traditions. 

Thank you all so much !!   :)