As I have said oh so many times before, every Plan A must have a Plan B and last nights Labor Day Street Reach for the Homeless Dinner and Duds was just that. Had planned on grilling the 120 hamburgers I purchased at Gordons Food Service and using the 80 buns donated this weekend by Janet Higgins Howard but then .... dah dah dah ...... 5pm news last night shows the grills from the Headwaters Park All City gathering and I spy not only the hot dogs I knew of but ..... insert oncoming shark music here ..... hamburgers...sigh!!! So.o.o.o.o all of Plan A moves to my next door neighbors freezer (for the mere rent of two burgers and buns) and Plan B comes into play with less than 3 hours before departure.....pizza party!! While Labor Day has always been less in my line that a usual night, last night was clearly the exception as nearly 100 men, women and children again joined me under the stars to enjoy their share of 17 pizzas. Each was served a slice of their choice - cheese, pepperoni or sausage along with their choice of one of the 100 individual bags of chips. In additional, they served themselves an additional side from fresh slow cooked green beans with potatoes, potato salad, tater tots, mac n cheese, Italian pasta salad or a fresh salad with Ranch/Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing. For dessert, each selected from fresh banana or cantaloupe sections, green or black seedless grape bunches, cookies or a mock hot peach cobbler made in part with a #10 can of peaches donated by Janet Howard. 9 gallons of the usual beverages.....lemonade, sweet ice tea, fruit punch and another Dinner and Duds is history. Several and by that I mean....egads a lot...... of new faces last night. Several came up to me and said what they needed and who had referred them and all were told as soon as we are done with dinner back to the van we go. One new gent who joined us took it upon himself to serve drinks all night for the others and when I suggested he might want to join the line said no...Im having fun and there he stayed as I passed two lone pieces of pizza his way. Of the new gents, first at the van was given one of the two men tents I had just purchased this weekend and was exactly what he had come for. Another went immediately for a sleeping bag and then the line formed....t shirts, mosquito repellent for one young gent who said what he had received elsewhere burned so I searched for bag of repellent I had from donations from Marshall Anderson Lindsay Anderson and the congregation at North Leo Mennonite Church and found a pump repellent with Deet so all was well, hoodies, blankets/comforters/even a request for a sheet which I still had one of and then finally.....SOCKS!!! Was not able to fill requests for small flashlights or for a gent who had lost his cell phone and needed an alarm clock as he is currently working two jobs and was so afraid he would oversleep (he was dog tired, I assure you) and lose one.....sigh. All in all, a beautiful night in downtown Fort Wayne with those I am proud to call friends .... proud to call family. God bless ..... “We don’t want people that are going to soil and spoil the environment for others.” Bill Brown President of the Downtown Improvement District.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 20:13:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015