Tenth Feed - Stories

Tenth Feed was, indeed, as exciting and fruitful as we had hoped. The event started the night before when myself and co-worker Brian went to Costco and purchased a complete flat bed cart full of snack food, about $500 worth ... and let me tell ya, the cart was hard to push around those screaming little kids. Once again I'm glad I have a pickup.







The morning started off with lots of coffee. At 10am about 7 Feed Seattle Volunteers and 9 people from Servant Church in Lynnwood showed up and we got busy. After putting snack packs together, all which included socks that were collected and donate by an 8th grade class on the East Side, we split into 3 groups and headed out; 5th Ave, Seattle Center, and Pike Market. Pike was a new location for us since we never go there Tuesday nights, but it makes sense to go there on a Saturday morning. Here are some words from one of the volunteers ...


"Met a guy coming out of the Senior Center in the bottom of Pike Place. He said his name was Nash. He was confused at first... not sure why I was being so friendly, but he saw the socks and got really excited. I shook his hand and made eye contact with him and he lit up. He was geniunely touched. Something I shared with the group I was walking with that I've found to be true, is the need to shake hands and make eye contact with the folks we are serving. It's an act to show that you recognize their dignity and pride. Nash seemed to appreciate the handshake and eye contact more than the food. I also met up with a Mexican man and his small granddaughter outside of a women's resource center. The little girl was without shoes or a coat. Grandpa had her bundled in his jacket. Her Mom was inside trying to get some help. It was very hard to keep walking after that."

At the same time Coal Creek Chapel was down at Occidental Park handing out Chicken Teriyaki and Rice, along with coffee and cloths and all sorts of goodness. Apparently they were nearly mauled for their Teri Chick Bowls; AWESOME!

About noon the guys from the Fiji house at UW came down and 16 of us put together 400 bags in about an hour, all while watching the UW basketball game on the big screen... it was quite the whirlwind of flying doritos and socks. Then they loaded up bags full of bags and headed off to distribute in many various locations

Overall it was a great time, and to think it all started with a simple phone call, from Pastor Chris, while I was home sick one day and he wanted to know how we were going to distribute the 500+ pairs of socks that were collected. A few emails later we had a plan and a total of 4 organizations coordinating to feed the homeless on the streets of Seattle on the same Satruday afternoon; THAT'S what it's all about.

Hope to see y'all on Tuesday for Eleventh Feed!!!

ToddS