Newsletter - 3-01-08

Funny Guy

I saw on my cell phone screen that the incoming call came from Nooch. I pressed "talk." "Hey, Nancy," Nooch whinnied in his raspy tenor. "I'm on my way downtown. I've got a small window of time. Ya got anything?" Ah! Music to my ears. I asked if he could manage a pick up at Town's End Restaurant with delivery to New Life Center in SOMA, a run I'd been trying to find coverage for all day and was about to do myself at the risk of picking my kids up late from their after school program. "Sure," Nooch bubbled. "No problem. It’s right near where I'm going. I'll be around for the next coupla days, so if you need anything last minute, you know who to call." Typical Nooch. Always extending him self. When he's not doing pick ups for Food Runners, he's in New Orleans helping Katrina victims or in Los Angeles donating his time and considerable energy to his favorite community service organizations there. Nooch lives for community service. He began volunteering for Food Runners more than fifteen years ago. He's kept a regular weekly run the entire time. Every Sunday morning at 8:30, Nooch pulls into the loading dock at Trader Joe's on Masonic. He waves a cheerful hello to the stockroom crew and then proceeds to single handedly load hundreds and hundreds of pounds of nutritious food that would otherwise be thrown away into his faded red pick up truck with the old white camper shell. Nooch never asks for help. Then again he doesn't need it. At sixty something, he has managed to keep himself in amazing shape. Nooch possesses the taught body and muscular arms of an athlete half his age. He still bounces like a teenager when he walks. Only his snowy white hair and the deep smile lines in his craggy face give any hint as to his true age. After filling his truck, (sometimes even returning for a second load), Nooch delivers the food to Walden House, a shelter for recovering addicts on the corner of Hayes and Fillmore. Not a week goes by, if Nooch is in town, that he doesn't call me for extra food runs. Not only does he make my life easier on a busy Food Runners day, but Nooch is a hoot; funny, chatty and willing to go anywhere, anytime to pick up any amount of food. He's not much on recognition. He prefers to keep a low profile. If you tried to thank him for his work, he'd look at the ground and shuffle his feet like a schoolboy. Nooch is a card. Nooch is a blessing. Nooch is a Food Runner. Food Runners and the greater community is lucky to have Nooch.

Food Runners had its best February ever picking up and delivering 110,230 pounds of food during this past month. Volunteers performed 700 runs and the truck did 253. Food Runners acquired 8 new volunteers, 6 new donors and 2 new recipients in February. Many thanks to Winslow & Associates who called Food Runners to pick up the excess food following "Shaken Not Stirred," the 2008 Friends of the Academy Gala held at the Fort Mason Festival Pavillion. You should have seen the boxes full of picture perfect apples n' oranges as well as the bags upon bags of fresh Teleme cheese they donated! The fruit was delivered to a child development center serving low income families and the cheese went to a soup kitchen where I imagine it got incorporated into a wonderful pasta dish serving hundreds of San Franciscans in need.

Ever wonder where the excess food from all those San Francisco galas goes? Sometimes, it goes to Food Runners. Sometimes it doesn't. Next time you attend one, ask. Tell them about Food Runners. Help stop hunger and alleviate waste. Food Runners is only a phone call away.

Nancy

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