Dude! Share The Food!

hey y’all

sounds like i missed an incredibly great day with y’all on Christmas eve.  my family and i were flying out west to see darla’s parents (and maybe the lights of las vegas, too…) (and the hoover dam)  (and red rock canyon)

sounds like y’all shared 400+ bowls of stew, gave out 300 gift bags (each holding a blanket and other goodies), and talked-with and loved-on many, many people.  that’s what it’s all about.  the meals and gifts are just door-openers to spend time with forgotten people.  God’s people.

so, wednesday was great!  and saturday.  and sunday, will and i were able to share another 100 sack lunches.  just like the many previous sundays and tuesdays.  all great days. all you “kingdom helpers” are what make the kingdom so beautiful!

we’ll have another great day tuesday, when the team preps and delivers 100+ sack lunches.

and this saturday will be a great day when we share some Ziti, green beans, and bread.  make a note:  ZITI ON SATURDAY.  if you’re not a cook, just bring some green beans.

thanks to lynn for making wednesday happen.  thanks to darla for the blanket-gift-bag idea.  rusty always going downtown.  jim and cindy for 60lbs of diced meat.  steve and pam at the Pantry.  chrissy, jackie, jason, bobby, will, britt, david, jennifer, karen, mike, rick, ross, melissa, sue, josh, ben, becca.  many more, thanks to all!

to great days ahead!!

eh

dudes…you guys are awesome!

you have made lots of people on the streets know that someone does care about them.   it will only get better in the new year…. i thank you all  for your hard work and commitment to stay the course …  it has helped me to get back on track ….  thank you for letting me be a part of it.

just a couple of short stories from the past few weeks…  first……..Christmas eve was great.   lots of gifts and food….  we were at little five points community center serving the meals and giving out the gift bags and clothes…  a man appeared and wanted to know who was in charge.  karen pointed to me and said “that’s him over there”…  he asked me what was going on.  well,  i told him….  he asked if we had a permit to gather such a large crowd (35 people) and give away food.  i said “we don’t need no stinkin badges” -not really-.   he informed me that we were in INMAN PARK and they don’t like what we were doing, and we needed to leave.  and he had called the law!!!  (not the first time this has happened)…  he continued to be a real horses behind….  he wanted to know when and where all the people were going after we left..?  i told him to his house for coffee!!  (no sense of humor)

after telling me a few reasons why we were in the wrong, he left.  we cleaned the area and left.  then, on saturday, while we were passing out sack lunches, he calls me, telling me the home owners association was taking steps to insure we never, ever, no way come back in his neighborhood and cause such a disturbance again…(we were only two blocks up the street).   also he said during the melee someone keyed his car…  all i could do was wish him a good day.

next story…  today, sunday, 28 dec, we went to little five points in the church van…  picked up 7 guys… brought them back to douglasville for church and golden corral buffet.  had a great time.  took them back to drop them off, and the last man did not want to get out.  (we had not met before today.)  he’s an older black man, in his 70’s, very run down looking and tired.  he didn’t speak very well or loud… he was mumbling about not being home for 3 or 4 days… i am thinking “ok, where would that be?”  he said “by the bridge, you know”…  we started riding around looking aimlessly for his bridge…  he can’t remember how he got to little five points…  then he pulls a key ring out of his pocket and hands it to me…  it’s from lakewood christian towers  off sylvan rd…  i knew of the place…  pretty nice retirement home.  i helped him inside.  the people there said he had been missing for three days!  thank you lord for sending me to little five points, and helping me find this man!

looking foward to the coming year and more great stories of lives changed and salvations………………………………..rusty

hello to all!

mostly, we try to share food, right? (see top of page. or see the “what does it mean” page.) but, we share clothes and blankets, too, sometimes.

sunday, someone had given us a giant camo coat to give away. really big.

later, while out “sharing the food”, robert and i were under a bridge, and i just had on a shirt, (and pants, of course..) and the cold wind was blowing, so i put the giant coat on. (it felt good, but it was kinda hard to make the hot cocoa. )

a friend, charles, teased me about giving it to him, but, since he had a good coat on, i didn’t feel the need.

then, just as we were out of food and packing up, here comes a giant of a man. really big. with just a sweatshirt on (and pants, of course..). pushing a shopping cart.

i said “sorry, we’re out of everything. do you have a coat?” “no, just this sweatshirt” “great! this coat is just for you!” SOOO COOL! RIGHT ON TIME! JUST THE RIGHT COAT, FOR JUST THE RIGHT MAN!

(charles teased me, because he’d hinted that he wanted it. but he’s a giver at heart, and he was glad for the guy)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

eh

(A message from South Florida)

Holiday greetings to all my old friends from “Dude Share the Food” back in Atlanta. I have been down in Florida now for over six months, and I continue to get E- mails from Kenny, one of my homeless friends from downtown Atlanta. I recently received a holiday greeting from Kenny (a powerpoint full of thankfulness) that supplied “food” of a different nature. A great “Spiritual” feast that reminded me of all we have to give thanks for. At a time when our nation is suffering the worst economic conditions since the “Great Depression”, it’s only fitting that we take stock of all the blessings we still have in this great nation. Compared to most of the world, we still have great wealth, superior health, a high literacy rate, religious freedom, and a very small percentage of citizens that actually face starvation. Most importantly, as Christians, we should understand that even if our 401K’s and retirement savings decrease, we have been assured of something much more important than financial peace during our retirement; eternal life through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Celebrate his birth, and remember that our time on this planet is less than a blink compared to eternity.

BCINGU,

Art

(man, it’s great to hear from Art.  miss you, bro!  eh)  (i’ll give kenny a hug for ya…)

doesn’t sound quite right, does it?

should be “food FOR the homeless, right?

well, yesterday, mike and i were downtown, and after sharing sack lunches and coffee, we were talking to Rolf for awhile.  great guy!  homeless, in a wheelchair, 50-ish, always super pleasant and seems to be a giver, not a hoarder.  (is that a word?)

so, he had a couple of lunches, then the girl who was with him came over and said “i gave away one of the lunches”  “no problem” he says…

he tells me about having a chinese-buffet-lunch with a guy he called “pastor john” who seems to help out a lot on the streets.  then he takes my phone and calls pastor john, and i verbally meet him.

Rolf tells us he ate about 5 plates.  then he says he had some leftover shishkabobs from the buffet, reaches into his insulated bag, pulls out a ziplock, and offers me one!  i politely decline, since i can’t imagine taking his food.  even though i was pretty hungry….

another guy comes up, and we have to tell him we’re out of lunches.  but Rolf offers him a shishkabob.  “a what”? the guy says.  “a shishkabob”.  “a what”?.  “a shishkabob”  (this went on until he showed him).  the guy declines, worried that it wasn’t any good.  i couldn’t stand it anymore, and said “i’ll take one”!

i started gnawing on it, stating that i didn’t even care if it was cat, it was good!!  mike got a piece of something, and then the other guy accepted a ‘bob’.  i didn’t even feel bad, because i know that Rolf knows the rewards of giving.  he was just so happy to “share the food”….

so, food from the homeless;  it’s a good thing!

eh

check it out!!  (excellent photography by jason p.)

cool, eh?

another blog from a volunteer from velocity church…..

http://chasegentes.blogspot.com/

yesterday, a group from velocity church in paulding county worked a food-sharing-day on the streets of atlanta.  here’s a blog from melissa……

http://fromthebedside.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/dude-share-the-food/

it’s great to join  with them!

The group at “dude! share the food” is so amazing!

A little over a month ago was my first time participating.  A friend invited me to come and experience it and help out.  I’ve always had a generous heart, but I never knew what it really meant to give.  So i made the trip, just thinking i would have a good way to spend a saturday.  but i was in for a day that would change my life and heart forever.  While i was there, i sat and talked with a homeless man for about 30 minutes, not knowing how the conversation would change my life.  He talked about God’s glory and how he was so blessed and rich in Christ, and i sat there thinking to myself “dude, you’re homeless!  How can you feel so blessed”??

So the day went by and i went home, but i couldn’t get it out of my head!  I thought “ive been to church my whole life.  i consider myself a Christian.  how does this man feel so blessed?  I have so much more, yet i feel like i have nothing?”  As I was laying in bed that night, i prayed for God to shine in my life, to give me the love and joy that made this homeless man feel so blessed!  As I prayed, i felt God enter my heart.  It was as if he was giving me this MASSIVE hug and squeezing me tight to his chest!  I felt the Love that I had been yearning for so long! He touched my heart and gave me the will and knowledge to live for him and spread his word!

Ever since that day, he has had ahold on my heart and has kept a fire burning bright.  I am his servant and I will continue to spread his word and live for him!  The group at “dude! share the food” helped plant a seed that will never stop growing in my heart!  I never knew an act of kindness could lead to a life of Praise to the Lord!!!

Robbie B.