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 !!   :)

Mac 'n Cheese with lots of Ham & a new Dishwasher

Today Hilde & I cooked 40 boxes of Mac 'n Cheese & loaded it all with 15 pounds of diced ham.  :)   We also, as usual, made a huge salad & Hilde had baked some incredible peanut butter cookies for dessert.  :)   Thank you Alvin for donating a whole bunch of small pretzel bags.  We handed those out, along with water, some Mountain Dew & V8 Juice, which were also donated by others. 

I had to restrain Marilyn from the cookies.  ;)  Just kidding Marilyn !!  :)   She loved them so much & I have to say I can't blame her, they were really good, Hilde !!  :)

The homeless at the second park were exceptionally nice & grateful today & it made our hearts feel good.  :)   We fed 54 people tonight, the numbers are climbing & word is getting around.  :)  We are so glad, especially since we have been cooking too much since we started up again.  The left-overs I bring home afterwards are shrinking & that is wonderful !!  :)   It makes us happy when we feed a lot of people that need comfort food in their bellies.  :) 

It was so fun to see you Cristina & my lil' Kiersten (age 5) at the park helping with handing out water, sodas & juice.  :)  It is never too early to teach the lil' ones to give & share & to show them how good they have it at home.  Kiersten has a lot of compassion already, she always wants her Mom to take an older homeless woman home with 'em.  :) 

Thank you so much Judy E. for donating one of the hams & lots of cheese, along with some macaroni.  :)   Your donation was the inspiration for tonight meal.   :)  

Thank you also once more Dave & Linda for all your kind help with the food !!  I am always & forever grateful to you both !!  :)  :)

And thank you dearest Frank D., my Cookie Family, J.J., Bill & Iris, who all donated funds so we can continue to do this !!  :)  The prices of the items & food needed to do this are going up continuously & I feel that too of course.  :o   I am so grateful for all your help & I hope the Blessings come right back to you !!   :) 

This next story made me cry because I was touched very deeply by two incredible human beings.  :)  My dishwasher had been 28 years old & I haven't been able to use it for quite some time, since it had seen better days.  Marilyn & I always cleaned up the big pots, bowls & utensils by hand & that was a lot after a long day of cooking & being on my feet. 

My dear neighbor Lee D. found out about this & he decided to buy me a brand new dishwasher. Lee took me to Tucson Appliance Company, because I wanted to support Chris, the owner, since he had been so incredibly supportive of my feeding the homeless.  So it wasn't enough that Chris very recently had given me an almost new stove, he then gave us the dishwasher at his cost, which saved us quite a bit. I didn't expect that at all, I just wanted to support Chris for his Kindness & for being so very generous to me before.  :)  I am crying again, tears of Gratitude, as I write this.  Thank you so much Lee & Chris, you both are incredible role models to humanity for kindness in action !!   :)   :)

Another successful meal served & now it's time to rest.  :) 
Everyone reading this be blessed always & in all ways.  :)    

Pork Tacos, Beans, Spanish Rice - and Chris from Tucson Appliance Co.

Some of you know that Hilde & I have been cooking all this time on a stove with just one big burner & three small ones.  :o   It made things considerably harder, especially with those great big pots we are cooking in.  One pot was almost done & the other one wasn't even warm yet.  So our friend Mark Irvin contacted Chris Edwards, the owner of Tucson Appliance Co., & asked him for a stove for us.   :)
Chris was as gracious as ever & gave us a reconditioned flat top stove that is a major improvement over the 28 year old one we had.   :)   Chris, thank you once more for your kind & loving support & for always being there for us !!   May you always be blessed for your generosity !!  :)  

Everyone who reads my blog, please support Chris & his business whenever you are in the market for appliances.  :)  Thank you Mark for your kind support also !!   :)

So today we used the new stove for the first time & what an incredible difference it made to be able to use two big burners & once we figured out the oven it worked great also !!   :)  

Thank you Sue for helping us chop, dice, & pull pork all afternoon !!  :)  You are so much appreciated !!  :)  We couldn't have done this without you !!  :)

We fed 45 people today & the meal consisted of pulled pork tacos, beans & Spanish rice.  It was a big success, the homeless loved it & many got seconds.  :)  Hilde makes the best Spanish rice & I make some pretty good pinto beans, if I could brag a little bit for a second.  :)   We served shredded lettuce with lots of cilantro in it, diced tomatoes, Mexican cheese mix, sour cream, salsa, cookies, some V8 Juice & some sodas, along with cookies. 

Thank you Lee D. for donating all those sodas, especially when it is so hot outside !!  :) 

My whole house still smells like tacos, rice & beans.  :)  Makes me feel hungry.  ;)

J.J. & Mark B., thank you so much for bailing us out by helping serve, since I was short two helpers today & we had so many different things to serve !!   It was really nice to see you both, & to stand in the serving line with you again, J.J., after all this time.  Brought back many memories of days gone by & the meals we served then.  :)  The only thing missing were the cupcakes.  ;)   Thank you also J.J. for the pizza money help !!  :) 

At Estevan Park we made a big Spirit Plate for Mike & everyone shared a little of their food with him.  :)  We then set the plate on a branch of one of his favorite trees & made a circle around it, holding hands.  :)  J.J. said a dear prayer for Mike & we all followed with our own words for him.  It was a sweet good bye to Mike & it felt a little more like closure in a small way.  We all miss him & his always happy face & attitude !!  :) 

Marilyn, thank you for helping serve & then afterwards for helping me clean up the food, dishes & the kitchen !!  :)  You can have all the cookies you want, whenever you want them.  :)   You are such a dear Friend & I am very grateful for you !!   :) 

And I can never thank Dave & Linda enough for donating some of the food we serve & their unconditional support of this endeavor !!  :)

Hilde deserves a great big trophy for being such trooper everytime we cook & serve.  I hope I am as strong & alert as she is when I'm going on 89 !!  :)   Hilde your Angel wings are huge !!  :)

Time to get some rest now !!  :)  It has been a long, happy & fullfilling day !!   :)

Mike, Rest in Peace my Friend !!

"In the end only Kindness matters" !!

Homeless Easter 2013

 

Easter Surprise & Pizza

Today, March 30th, we were Easter bunnies for the homeless & it was a lot of fun for all.  :)

Armed with 131 colored Easter eggs & 60 gift bags filled to the top with a brand new pair of socks, lots of candy & home baked cookies, Marilyn, JoDee & I headed out to Santa Rita Park, but not before picking up 15 great big pizzas from Little Caesars for the special occasion.   :)  Bill met us later on at Estevan Park. 

We fed 55 people & were able to give the left over gift bags & eggs to Brother Dave to hand out to more homeless who were getting soup & hot chocolate from him at different parks this evening.  :)  We could have used probably another 5 pizzas, but we live & learn as we go.  Everyone got at least two big slices, a few got three slices at the very end. 

Homeless Tom, my buddy, had his 69th birth-day yesterday, so we had a small cake for him & the four of us sang to him as loud as we could to seem like we were a whole bunch.  :)  Tom also was the 10,000th person I fed last weekend.  It just worked out that way & I'm glad. 

Word is getting around that Hilde & I are back with food & it feels good to see the numbers fed are climbing again.  :)   At our prime we used to feed 80 to 100 people every time we went to the parks. 

We lost one of everyones favorite & one of my favorite too from Estevan Park.  Mike had a heart of gold & everyone always hovered over him to take care of him & to protect him.  :)  I seldom saw him sober, but he was one the kindest & most grateful of all.  He always remembered my name & called me "Miss Elliott, right ??"  and could he eat a lot of food.  I always piled extra on his plate to sober him up.  ;)   Earlier this week Mike got run over by a train near Estevan Park.  I always feared that he would be hit by a car, but not a great big train.  Enjoy Heaven Mike !!  I'll make a Spirit Plate for you at times, you are still getting fed.  :)

Shirley & her son Aaron came over earlier this week with two great big boxes of clothes from her husband, who also just had crossed over.  We put one box out at each park & most of the clothes was gone really fast.  We only have a few pieces left, which we will take next time we go.  Thank you Shirley & thank you also for being so thoughtful by giving me gas money to go to the parks.  :)  You are just so dear !!  :)

Thank you JoDee & Sue for putting all the gift bags together & so quickly too !!  You were like lil' tornadoes with all that candy.  :)   I had fun just watching you, while I stuffed the egg bags & the cookie bags.  It was hard to focus on what I was doing because of observing you lil' whirlwinds.  :)  

And thank you Marilyn, JoDee, & Bill for helping serve & doing it with big smiles !!  :)
I am so grateful for you all !!  Bill, thank you also for the salt packets, although you still have them all.  ;)   I am also grateful to MacDonald's for donating a good size bag of lil' salt packets for the Easter eggs.  :)  That young man so came through for me !!

Sue thank you for all the jelly beans you donated & I got to tell you that we had a hard time keeping Marilyn from fishing out all the purple ones.  ;)   Hehehe !!  :)

JoDee you were so generous by donating all those cellophane bags with the cute & fun Easter egg design on them & for bringing over more jelly beans too for the gift bags !!   :)   I feel blessed by all your kind help & look forward to getting to know you better !! 

Randy you did it again with providing all the socks & lots of candy too & some water on top of it all.  Thank you my Friend !!  :)   Your Heart is big & beautiful & kind !!  :)  

Cheryl, Cristina, Wendy & Gopal thank you for coloring all those great eggs, they were quite colorful & bright.  Gopal, we are still impressed by your idea of using strong coffee for the brown eggs & turmeric for coloring the yellow eggs.  :)  What a clever idea !!   :)   Cheryl, it was great to hear that you had so much fun coloring your eggs !!   :)

George & Marion, you always come through when I need help !!  :)  Thank you for all those really pretty cookies !!  They were a joy to hand out with all the fun sprinkles on top !!   :)  

Dave & Linda thank you for the big bag of candy & I have to confess that I had to sample a few myself.  ;)   You are always there for me too & I am so grateful to you both !!  :)

More Thank Yous are going out to Jane, Martin, Nan, & Maria in Wisconsin for sending funds to be able to do this & to get the pizzas too !!  :)   Your generosity is awesome !!  :)  

Words are too small to express my Gratitude to each & everyone of you & the Love you share by these great acts of Kindness for the people in need in the parks !!  At times I am touched so deeply that I just sit & cry.  It is that overwhelming, in a good way !!  :)

I will post a few pictures too.   :)  We were too busy handing out everything that we didn't have time to stop to take photos.  I took some of my helpers ahead of time before the parks.  Enjoy !!   :) 

Together we filled everyone's Hearts & their bellies too !!  :)   Thank you all !!  :)

An Early Easter Dinner

Since this was Hilde & my regular weekend to feed we decided to yesterday serve Easter dinner a week early.  :)  

My friends Ryan & Barb brought us about 70 lbs. of potatoes all the way from Idaho that they grew themselves. :)  So what to do with all those wonderful potatoes ??   :)

Hilde came over on Friday & we made a huge bucket of German potato salad for the homeless for the first time.  It was a lot of work & worthy of an Easter meal.  :)   We also had about 15 lbs. of sliced Applewood Smoked Ham to go with it & tossed salad of course, plus Liz's wonderful cookies.  :)   Thank You Dave & Linda for donating the ham for this & for always being there to help out in whatever way I need help !!  :) 

Hilde came to the first park with us to serve the food & Bill, our new helper who recently moved here from "New Joysey"  :)  came to the second park to help Marilyn & I.  Thank You Bill & Marilyn !!  :)  So grateful to & for you, & to Ryan & Barb for driving to Tucson to bring the potatoes, & to Liz for her great baking !!  :)  

The meal was a big success & everyone was grateful for the food.  :)  It just made me a little sad that we ran out of ham towards the end.  Word is getting around that Hilde & I are cooking again, so the numbers of homeless showing up is growing once more.  For a while I had food left over every time, so now we are getting again to where it used to be.  :)   The grapevine is at work.  :) 

I wish I had the energy & time to do more & sometimes I dream of having a place indoors to serve the food & maybe a shelter too.  :)  And Hilde dreams of a commercial kitchen.  If only we were younger & our bodies were stronger still.  So I pray for Miracles for the homeless & I know in my heart that Creator will make good things happen, maybe through other kind people too & to let it ripple out.  :)  

Next weekend the homeless will get another Easter surprise.  :)  I am going back to the parks to take Little Caesar pizzas to everyone, since this month has an extra Saturday.  There is no one lined up for the 5th Saturdays of the month, so I will take a big bunch of pizzas on those from now on.  And there will be other Easter surprises, but I will talk about those later.  :)  

If anyone wants to help out, just give me a call.  My number is on this blog. 

Many Blessings to each & everyone of you !!  :)  And a very happy Spring too !!  :)

10,000+ Homeless Fed

Yeay, today we fed 55 homeless  people & we crossed 10,000 fed so far in 30 months.  :)  

It is a happy occasion for me, but also very bittersweet one too.  My heart jumps with joy to know that we filled 10,000 tummies over the years, on the other hand it makes me sad that there are so many homeless people that need food !! 

To serve nourishing comfort food is always the goal & it warms our hearts to see all the gratitude when handing over a full plate to each person.   :)   They deserve the best food possible & for some it is the only meal they eat on that day. 

Many of the homeless are down on their luck, do to our current economy & we are not here to judge them.  Others are trying to get back on their feet & just need a little help.  And then there are the ones that like the homeless lifestyle, because it is all they have known for so long.  Most deserve our respect & some kind words, along with the food.  :)  

Today at one of the parks this man drove up in a cab & wanted to know what we were doing, so we explained it to him.  He then wanted to know what church I am with & I told him that I do this on my own.  Then he began preaching to me about his church & that I should go there.  I told him that I like to teach by being an example.  What I really wanted to say to him was that if he had picked up a spoon in the time he was preaching to me about doing God's work & attending his church, he could have served a bunch of the homeless their food & nurtured them some.  So it is where we put our Priorities & our Love !!   :) 

I am really tired & it is almost midnight, but I will add more to this blog tomorrow.

It has been an awesome day !!  :)    Thank You Creator !!   :)

Good Night everyone & sleep with the Angels !!   :)  

More Chili & Crackers

Since I had a big pot of Chili left over from Saturday I decided to go back to Santa Rita Park today in hopes to feed another bunch of hungry homeless people. 

We went through half of the huge pot, so I headed over to Estevan Park, but didn't find one soul there & I didn't want to wait 30 minutes for Brother Dave's people to come with the soup & hot chocolate van.  Driving by "Stone Park" at Stone & Speedway, I saw a lot of homeless there.  Normally I don't go there, because I do not feel safe on my own there, but decided to stop since I had all this food left & it was still light out. 

Altogether I fed 22 people tonight, but it felt more like 40.  I guess it was because I was doing it by myself today, which rarely happens anymore.  :)   I so always appreciate all my helpers every time we go to feed !!   :)  It is such a gift of self to give up your Saturday evening to do this !!   :)  Thank you all once more !!  :)

Chili for a cold & cloudy Day

Made two great big pots of Chili today & a huge salad to go with it, along with lots of crackers.  :) 

It wasn't a good day for feeding the homeless, since it was quite cold & drizzly & we were told that people had been stopping by Santa Rita Park all day with food already.  There were actually more people at Estevan Park, which normally always has fewer.  We only fed 23 people altogether. 

So since I have a whole pot full of Chili left, along with a smaller one too, I am thinking of going back to the parks on Monday to serve the rest.  Hopefully we will have some nice & warm weather then. 

Time to get some rest now.  Talk with you all again soon !!  :)

Sloppy Joe's, Spanish Rice & Cowboy Beans

Another successful meal served today in the two City parks.  Hilde made her incredible Spanish rice (one of my favorites of hers), I made my cowboy beans, and together we made the Sloppy Joe's & the tossed salad.  It is always fun to spend time in the kitchen together & I always look forward to those days.  :)  It is when we cook & talk about this, that & the other.   :)   It feels so much like mother & daughter time.  We also had cookies & of course water for everyone.

Marilyn came again to help serve the food & I am very grateful for your help & for being so constant in showing up !!  :)   You are much needed & much appreciated too !!  :)   Thank you always, dear Friend !!  :)

Hilde came to the parks too to serve the food & today for the first time her daughter Liz, & Hilde's Great-grandson Michael (16) came too to help.  How wonderful to be able to spend a little time with everyone !!  :)   Thank you all for helping out too !!  :)

Ever since we took a few months off, the homeless have been extra grateful to all of us & we so appreciate all their heartfelt thank yous & their help in setting up the table & food !!  :)  

We are not feeding quite as many people yet as we did before.  Word is still spreading that we are back & every time there are a few more people that show up.  So it is growing & it will just take a little time to build it up again.  Today we fed 47 people.  Please say prayers that the hungry people will find us !!

I also wanted to send out this request.  :)  It would be so awesome if we had home-made cookies again, and not just for the special holidays.  :)  So if there is someone out there who likes to bake a lot & often please call me.  The homeless love sweets & cookies are a big treat for 'em all.   :)  We've been giving out store bought cookies, but they don't have the Love in them that home baked ones do.  :)

Good Night now to you all & Sleep with the Angels !!   :)

La Botana Restaurant's Generosity Once More

Yesterday we made Valentine's Day for the homeless in the City parks with the enormous help of Arnold, the owner of La Botana Grill here in Tucson.  Arnold donated 75 great big burritos for the third year in a row.  Hilde & I made the rice, beans & salad to go along & it all ended up being quite a feast for all.  :)  There were many happy faces in the parks.  :)  Thank You so very, very much Arnold, you are an Angel & a very kind one at that !!  :)  

A little while ago I was told by one of the homeless that they call me the Burrito Lady & I would like to hand that staff over to Arnold since he is THE Burrito Man.  Please support his restaurant, his food is awesome & as you can tell Arnold is a wonderful & caring human being !!   :)   He so deserves our support !!  :)  La Botana - www.LaBotanaGrill.com - is right on the corner of First Avenue & Fort Lowell in the Food City shopping center.  Their Shrimp Especial is out of this world good & it's my favorite.  :)   I could eat it every night.  :)

I put together 75 gift bags for Valentine's Day, filled with a pair of brand new socks, assorted candies, home made cookies, granola bars & specially hand made cards for the homeless by many children of the Coronado School from the town of Catalina.   :)   Thank you Hank for initiating it all & a great big Thank You to all six teachers & the children too especially !!   :)  You all are awesome & touched the homeless with your caring & dear words !!   :)   All your posters were put up for everyone to enjoy at a homeless shelter !!  :)  

There were a bunch of gift bags left over & we gave them to a church group who take hot chocolate & hot soup to the homeless all over the parks every evening during the cold months.  So our extra bags went to the people just outside the down town library.  :)  That felt really good to know.  :)

We made Valentine's Day a couple of days late this year on the 16th, since it is our regular day to feed & the homeless would already know that we were coming.  :)

I also would like to thank each & everyone who helped out to make this possible once more.

Thank you Randy & Mayumi for donating all the socks & for putting together all those sweet candy packs with so much Love & caring, which bubbled right out of them.   :)   And thank you for the water too, which is always needed.   :)   You both are so appreciated !!

Thank you Alvin for donating a bunch of granola bars for the gift bags once again.  :)

Cheryl, thank you for baking 103 cookies.  :)   They looked so good & it was tempting to not eat one, but I was good & didn't !!  ;)

Dave & Linda thank you for donating some of the bags & candy & some of the food for the meal !!  :)   I am ever so grateful to you both & hope that some day I can repay you in some good way for all that you have done to help me !!  

Ginger, thank you for sending the bags of candy & some socks in the mail to help out !!   :)   You are wonderful to do that & to care like you do !!

Martin, Sylvia, Sherry, David, Liz, Mark, Bill & Iris, A.W., & Marilyn for sending funds for the food.

And thank you J.J. for the Albertson's gift card, which will help so much with providing food for the meals !!  :)   Hope to see you & Mark one of these days again at the parks !! 

I am now gearing up for Easter for the homeless & am planning on having gift bags for 'em again with hopefully more socks, Easter candy, hard boiled & colored eggs, etc.   :)   It is just around the corner, really.   :)  

Hilde & I are now regularly going to the parks to feed again & please remember that I can not do this without all of your support & Love !!

Thank You all every so much !!   :)   I am humbled by all of you & also strengthened at the same time !! 

With Love & Gratitude always !!