Hi Folks,

 

This is no pipe dream. It’s clear-eyed extrapolation based on the success of One Can A Week in the Miles Neighborhood over the past three years.

Last week I was wondering aloud during a computer lesson with Dorrie, my talented writer friend, why I can’t find people in other neighborhoods to get involved collecting food.

Dorrie thought a second and said, “This may not be appropriate in polite company but I think people should earn their Community Food Bank food.”

In the next instant a news story I saw about a year or so ago popped into my head. It showed a guy at the food bank who was young, had no job and was volunteering. He said that since he needed food he thought he would work at the food bank to help pay his way.

“That’s the guy I’m looking for, Dorrie,” I smiled. In my mind, food recipients were off limits, but if that guy is any indication, I’m sure others feel the same way. In fact, I have a number of participants in the neighborhood who tell me all of the time that they are happy to help me because they needed the Community Food Bank once and they just want to give back.

This opened a door to a whole new way of thinking for me and I created a program called The Red Umbrella Corps that hires people each Sunday and pays them $30 for three hours of work.

Since our One Can A Week experience shows that we average 229 lbs. and $50.18 per week, the program could be hugely successful.

But don’t take my word for it. Just do the math. All of the figures are in the table below. Then give me a call because I sure would like to talk about this.  

Hi Folks,

Give A Little, Take A Lot

That’s the deal I made three years ago with scores of my neighbors in the Miles Neighborhood. Give me a can a week on Sunday and I will take a lot of food to the Community Food Bank on Monday.

Our deal has worked out great, too. Beginning in 2009 through 2011, we donated 35,751.5 lbs. of food and $7,828.09 in cash. Just counting the food, we fed 9,168 folks and their kids three meal in one day.

About two months ago, Pauline Hechler, VP of Development, invited me to the January 26th Community Food Bank board meeting because she wanted to personally introduce me to all of its members. Since they are helping run my favorite charity, I also wanted to meet them.

About two forkfuls into my scrambled eggs, Pauline, who was seated next to me, stood up and made the introduction mentioning our impressive donation numbers.

Then Bill Carnegie, the CEO, walked up behind my chair and said he had something for me. I stood up and he handed me this handsome, and quite heavy, metal plate with an inscription on it. He began to read aloud.

Bill Carnegie shows me the beautiful Wilton Armetale plate and reads the inscription as Pauline Hechler looks on. Photo by Meghan Heddings

 

This is one time subtlety escapes me. It is quite obvious that I am completely taken with the presentation, the sentiment and the heft of the 12″ plate.   Photo by Meghan Heddings

 

 

 

Bill Carnegie and I take the obligatory presentation photo which a few hours later gave me the idea to present this elegantly engraved award to all those who have helped me feed so many people. What surprised me is how quickly everyone took to the idea. Moments after they held the plate their replies were nearly identical. “Wow, of course you can take my picture.” Photo by Pauline Hechler

“As substantial as they are beautiful” is the opening line in the Wilton Armetale brochure. You will see below, each person I handed the plate to read the inscription and then clutched it warmly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With deep apprecition for creating the One Can AWeek Program.Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, January, 2012.

Bill is reading and I’m thinking, “What a beautiful plate, I love this design … and everything.”

I’m not an awards kind of guy. I do things because they need to be done. I don’t look for any kind of mention or at-a-boys. I instantly changed my mind when I held this magnificent memento. Later in the day when thinking about Sunday’s pick up I decided to show, no, give this plate to my neighbors. By putting out all of those cans for 160 weeks straight, they forced me to qualify for this award.

And like me, they have to get their picture taken. (There are scores of Miles neighbors to award and they will appear here over the weeks.)

 

I’m the official keeper of the plate, but any time a neighbor wants to throw a party or have a special gathering of friends, they can borrow it to tout their good works and at the same time, encourage others to step up as they have.

Now I’m thinking about where to display this elegant plate in my humble home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Bank Deliveries Made Easy

Cory, who lives on Highland Ave., operates the Treehouse Thai Message Spa located at 148 S. 4th Avenue with her husband. They recently ran a food drive and their customers donated $178. Since Cory participates in One Can A Week, she knew I’d gladly deliver her donation.

 

Everyone should follow Cory’s lead. If someone you know has food or money to donate to the Community Food Bank, just volunteer my services. After all, I’m there every Monday delivering our neighborhood donations.

 

We collected a total of 166 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $214.50, two checks for $206.00 and $8.50 in cash.

 

See you Sunday,

Peter

Hi Folks,

 

John, my friend, my client and my mentor lives in the Foothills and donates to One Can A Week nearly every session we have. He buys those handsome food packs of soup, peanut butter or fruit you find at Costco. Out of respect and gratitude, I always place them in the upper right hand corner of the shopping cart so he can quickly spot his donation. (See photo below.)

Ultra thin MacBook Air

For many months now we have been switching John’s electronic media from PC to Mac starting with the iPad. He got an iPhone next and just this past Friday, a MacBook Air. The transition has been fun and interesting, like Go Daddy doesn’t handle iPads well so we had to move John’s company website. (Bluehost.com is the answer for those interested techies.)

This whole move is possible because Microsoft Office now works well on Macs. Consequently, it makes no difference what operating system you have; you can Outlook, Word, Excel or PowerPoint to your heart’s delight on either system.

What turned out not to be so much fun were the glitches on the retail side. I suggested John buy his new computer at Simutek on Ft. Lowell because I’ve known them for years and I like their style, not to mention, the lines are much shorter there.

We wanted the Office Suite loaded on the machine when we picked it up, but this did not happen. Then when I tried to download the software at John’s home, the Mac was password protected. Son of a …!

“Call Simutek,” John quietly suggested as I tried a few generic passwords and several more colorful words. My frustration was growing because John is really important to me, and too, I do not suffer incompetence well.

“Call Simutek,” he said again handing me the phone.

The person who answered my call had no idea what the password might be and the person who would was off.

As I packed up the computer John said, “We cannot let our frustrations get in the way; we just have to get it done.”

“I’m just venting, John,” I replied. “Of course I never talk to people like that. It’s counter productive.”

There was a young woman behind the counter when I arrived at Simutek. After my brief, smileless explanation, she quickly apologized and went into the back to get the generic password because she did not know it either.

Upon her return, she gave me the password and then asked me if I wanted to speak to the owner. “We, and especially the owner, pride ourselves on how we handle our customers,” she said.

“No,” I replied smiling now, “John and I never think we hit the lottery because someone messes up. That’s just not right to take advantage of people like that. What I would like you to do is take responsibility for this situation and talk to your boss. Inform everyone about generic passwords and train staff to do what they say they are going to do. It appears that folks here aren’t really working as a team. Nothing seems to be passed on.”

Before we parted, she asked me for my business card so she can put it in their book of computer instructors. The only card I give out these days is One Can A Week, which I realized, will really stick out among all those techie designs. Maybe I will win a few new clients from this experience. Even if nothing happens, it is so much better than winning a gotcha-lottery.

Little Boy Blue
Jeff and Emily opened the door and there stood their little blond hair blue-eyed baby boy dressed from head to toe in a blue jumper. He handed me a can of beans and said “Bye.” Got to remember to bring my camera on my Sunday rounds.

We collected a total of 206 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $36.50, a $25.00 check and $11.50 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter