Let's do this!!!

Once again I find myself apologizing for the hiatus and getting the group going again. Such is life in a non-affiliated volunteer funded group such as this.

Tuesday, January 25th is the date. The grassy park in the NW corner of Pike Street Market is the meeting location. Parking can be tough so leave some extra time if you can. I ask that everyone bring 10-15 snack packs, ready for distribution. If you really truly can not afford the packs, no worries, come on out and hang out with us anyway, maybe bring a bunch of bananas or two to hand out (we've found that homeless people REALLY like bananas).

ToddS

ALMOST TWO YEARS!

ALMOST TWO YEARS!

I've been looking back at the blog posts, realizing it's been almost two years that we have done the FeedSeattle thing. We have gone through a number of changes in that time, all in the name of feeding the homeless on the streets of Seattle.

Now we find ourselves in (yet another) rebuilding period, and it's been a bit slow going. I want to give a bit of synopsis of where we have been, so perspective new volunteers can get a sense of where ours hearts are at a glance, without having to read through two years of blog posts.

I got a heart for the homeless while working at Safeco Insurance Company in the U-district. It's a bit of a long story to type here, but suffice it to say it involved a sign flyer named 'Gutter', at least that's what he told me his name was. So, after a few internet searches I began volunteering at TeenHOPE in Shoreline. TeenHOPE was a youth homeless shelter in Shoreline for kids between the ages of 13 and 17. I started on the overnight shift, then began doing street outreach and feeding in downtown Seattle, and eventually joined the Board of Directors. I found that I really liked the street outreach; driving downtown with a green van loaded with food, cloths, and volunteers to distribute to the youths hanging out. It was during this time that I also realized that I was not made to be on a Board of Directors. The politics and conversation about the same topic over and over just ground me down; I’d rather be on the streets feeding people. Though I'm certainly thankful there are others that are good at doing the Board of Directors thing.

About the time TeenHOPE was having financial issues, and eventually sold to another non-profit organization, I moved to downtown Seattle. It was at this time I decided to try starting my own street outreach feeding program. I wanted it to be all volunteer funded and have a low barrier of entry. I decided to have volunteers, all of whom I got off Craigslist, bring $10 to each event. All of that money would go to the food for the following week. We would get together in the common room of my apartment building for a half hour or so, put food bags together, then hit the streets to distribute. I must admit I was a bit surprised how quickly we grew. Each evening we would have two or three new people, and while they did not all come back, we regularly had 10-15 people within just a few months. It showed me that people are good, and want to help, it’s just that they need a bit of motivation and instruction. It’s not easy to walk up to a stranger on the street and offer them food, but I find that even the most nervous person can do it after seeing it done a few times. It was certainly out of my comfort zone initially.

During that first year we partnered with a number of organization, mostly churches, a fraternity from UW, etc. In fact, we had one special Saturday outreach event that included 4 groups where over 500 people were fed. That was AWESOME!!!

Soon thereafter I had schedule change at work, and got married. So I decided to take a bit of time off. Coal Creek Chapel in Bellevue decided to take over the effort. However, instead of doing mobile events (where we backpack around bags filled with food to distribute) they decided to do Saturday events where they would bring a bunch of food to Occidental Park in Seattle to distribute, often giving away great food like Teriyaki Chicken with rice and home made Chili. Many months later it worked out that I was ready to get back into the FeedSeattle gig, while Coal Creek was having some leadership issues and had to back out for a while.

So that's really where we are at now. I'm back in trying to build up a list of volunteers for twice monthly mobile events. It's been much slower going this time around, and now I've had another change in employment so our scheduling is a bit spotty. However, I do have a small list of volunteers that are hard core dedicated, so I'm confident we can grow this group up again once my job future is figured out.

At the end of the day it's not about numbers, it's about people getting fed that otherwise would have gone hungry.

Water and Bananas

FeedSeattle has been through MANY changes in the last 3 years. Currently we are regular but small. Meaning, though we go out twice a month to the same place, our numbers are pretty small. While I'm kinda saddened to remember back in the day when we regularly had 15+ volunteers, I must remember the reason I started this group; if I go solo I feed maybe 15 people, if I can get even 2 people to come with me that's more like 45 people. So I'm OK with that, I'm confident that we'll have the numbers we need when we need to have them.

For our next homeless feeding event we are doing something a bit different. First off I'm moving FeedSeattle back a week. Instead of the 19th we are going to do it on the 26th. Not only that, we are going to try and idea we have talked about for a few weeks; water and bananas only. They seem to be the two most popular items, and with the hot weather it makes sense to focus on water. I will try and get a cart to roll the heavy water in, if not we can be creative with parking and moving my truck.

So, bring as many bottles of water (cold if possible) and bananas you want, and joins us on the 26th!

ToddS

Let's go make some smiles!

There was 4 of us last week; FOUR! While I can still remember the days when we regularly had 10+, I'm stoked that we are seeing some new regulars, and I'm more than happy to see 40+ get fed. Last week, as we were walking around, we noticed LOTS of smiles. People just blown away that some random strangers come up to them with arm and food extended. I particularly remember one older bearded out grubby gentleman. He was searching through his change cup outside McDonald, likely to see how much $ he had to eat. When I offered him some food, he had a very quizzical look on his face follwed by a mile long smile when he realized we were giving him some fresh fruit and other goodies; MAN I wish I could take a good picture of that initial smile. We've gained a bit of momentum the last few events, and with the weather getting better I'm hoping for big things the next few weeks. LET'S GO MAKE SOME SMILES!!!!

That's that for now!

ToddS

Pike Market good again

Last Thursday we had a good serve at Pike Market. Two new volunteers joined me, in fact one of them saw the ad on Craigslist and just showed up; Fantastic!

We distributed 24 or so to people hanging around the park near Pike Market, then headed to WestLake. We saw a number of teenagers hanging out at The Stage who were very excited for the food we gave them, as well as three more spanging in front of McDonalds. All in all it was an uneventful but fruitful server.

Tomorrow we roll again!

ToddS

I like Pike!

Last Thursday I had a good solo serve at Pike Market. We have been modifying the dates and locations a bit lately, and I know that sometimes makes people drop off, or get confused or whatever. While it's understandable, unfortunately that is not likely to change anytime soon, as we are just trying to find the best days and locations to serve those in need. Recently we noticed another group of concerned citizens feeding people near Pioneer Square on Thursdays, which is fantastic, as it allowed us to move our operations to the Pike Market area. There are different types of needs in different areas of the city. While I'm willing to feed anyone in need, my preference is to feed someone who will likely otherwise not eat that night.

When I first drove by the park near Pike Market last Thursday I saw a lot less people than I had the week before. However once I got parked and everything loaded up, I had no problems finding people in need to give some snacks to. I had a good conversation with a couple of twenty-somethings who are here from France. They were smoking cigarettes and trying to sell some pencil drawings near Etta's restaurant. They have been here 8 months, and while I'm not sure where they are staying, they were so happy to get food they gave me some art in exchange. Hopefully they are there when I go back.

Next FeedSeattle Mobile Event is on June 10th (2nd and 3rd Thursdays). Meet me in the NW corner of the Park behind Pike Market.

ToddS

We serve WAY more than we Blog!

Oops. Yeah so it's been a while since I've updated the blog, but does anyone really blog as much as they think they will?

Regardless I want to give ya'll an update, and make a good post for new people to get the 411 on what we do.

FeedSeattle is a loosely organized group of 'average Joe' volunteers with a heart for the homeless. We have tried a number of ways to feed the homeless on the streets of the Seattle over our 3+ years of service. We are fully volunteer funded, just out to make a small difference. Currently we are doing mobile events the 2nd and 3rd Thursdays at 7:30pm, as well as the 4th Satrurday at noon, of every month.

A Mobile event is one where each volunteer arrives with 10-15 snack packs ready to distribute. Snack packs are easy to make. Simply take a gallon sized zip-lock bag and fill it with fruit, granola bars, chips, raisons, water, juice; just about anything really. Then we meet up, walk around, and distribute.

If you have questions please feel free to email me.

todd@wetfoot.net