Newsletter - 4-01-09

Every Little Bit

I could barely hear the message on the Food Runners call-in line on Saturday afternoon. "My name is Mari," the tiny voice on the recording stated. "I own Mari's Catering and Sozai Restaurant and Sake Lounge. I have a monetary donation as well as some food I'd like to have picked up. I'm hoping someone can come this evening." Mari left her address, phone number and other particulars. I was intrigued. No one in my memory had ever donated money at the same time as food. Luckily, I was available for the run myself. Dedicated though Food Runner volunteers are, rustling someone up for a Saturday night run on short notice can be a challenge. Besides, I prefer to do first time pick ups myself whenever possible and this one especially since money would change hands.

The kids were cranky. I'd just dropped off their buddy with whom they'd just wrapped up a slightly too long play date during which they'd watched a little too much YouTube and played a little too long on the Wii. "We're going to pick up some Food for the People on the way home, guys," I announced as I returned to the car after having deposited said buddy on his doorstep. "Oh, Moooooom," came the groans from the back seat. We drove over the crest of Market Street just as the sun dipped below the rim of the Pacific. We snuck into the inner Sunset the back way from where Laguna Honda Boulevard melts into 7th Avenue. I located Sozai, Mari's tiny restaurant at 1500 Irving on the corner of 16th. I lucked into a parking space right out front just as I began my second circumnavigation of the block. "Wait in the car, gents," I instructed my wee fellas. "I'll leave the keys so you can listen to Bruce (Springsteen). Don't open the door for anyone but me. And, no fighting." I stepped into the restaurant. It was 8:00 PM. As with so many restaurants since the economic downturn, business was dismally slow. Sad considering what a lovely little spot Sozai is and how good the menu looked. I located Mari immediately. She was the tiniest of women; no more than the size of a twelve year old girl. "Thank you for coming," she said in a voice as tiny as her stature. She went to the register, removed a folded check and handed it to me. "I worked at Mission Street Food on Thursday night," she explained, "and I decided to donate my profit from the evening to you." Mission Street Food is an organization run by Karen Leibowitz, a UC Berkeley doctoral student/comparative literature instructor and her husband, Anthony Myint a former line cook at Bar Tartine (learn more about their story.) Every Thursday and Saturday night, Mission Street Food rents Lung Shan Restaurant at 2234 Mission Street near 18th. Guest chefs are invited in to whip up unique offerings for each event. The dinners are open to the public and extremely popular. Mission Street Food donates a portion of the profits to the food related charities of the guest chef's choice. "I chose Food Runners as it is familiar to me from outreach emails I have received from you," Mari recounted as I thanked her for the donation. "Wait a moment," she said. "I have a bag of food too." With that, Mari disappeared into the tiny kitchen and returned with a grocery bag full of various items. It was a small donation to be sure. I delivered it to Phoenix Program Residential, a small group home for recovering addicts nearby. On the surface, everything about the food run had been small; from Mari, to Sozai, to the group home, to the donations themselves. But when you consider the size of the sources, the donations were, in fact, huge. Every little bit helps. Every little bit counts. Feeding the hungry most certainly takes a village and caring citizens like Mari.

Food Runners picked up 115,645 pounds of food in the month of March. Volunteers performed 843 runs and the truck did 214. Please welcome March's new volunteers Jean W., Pam R., Tony L. and Anne D. all of whom have sallied forth multiple times already! Also welcome new recipients, Project Adapt, Senior Action Network and Clara House as well as new donors Let's Be Frank, B & B Enterprises and Pickles Restaurant. For their very first donation, B & B Enterprises donated well over 2,000 pounds of sliced turkey. The Food Runners truck had to make more than one trip! Pickles Restaurant will be donating twice weekly on an ongoing basis. Way to go.

How often does your company host in house lunches or other events at which food is served? Do you know what happens to the leftovers? Be the office hero. Tell your company about Food Runners. We'll be there with a smile to help your organization stay green and community focused by feeding the hungry instead of the trash. It's more important now than ever.

Nancy

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