This year the shelter's website said they needed turkey and everything that goes with it. One of the guys in our group, Bob, sent out an email to his co-workers to ask if they wanted to chip in. Then he started calling various supermarkets asking if they'd give us a discount. By the time we headed to the grocery story, we had $225.00 and a 5% discount, thanks to the generosity of people who wanted to help.
We were able to purchase 15 turkeys:
And a whole lot more (that's my friend John in the foreground and me in the background):
The store clerk who rang us up said he'd never seen anybody buy so many turkeys at once.
We drove to the shelter and somebody pointed us to a cart we could use to bring the food inside (here's a shot of my friend Bob after all the turkeys were loaded):
Somebody from the mission came out and helped us box up everything:
We took the food inside, met the chef, and talked briefly with a man who is going through the new life recovery program. No doubt about it, it was a feel good moment, but when you look around, there is still so much need. There's more to the story though. Bob heard from a group of his co-workers who plan to duplicate what we've been doing. They are going to stop exchanging gifts at Christmas, pool the money they would have spent on those gifts, and use it to help others.
Now that is cool.
