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“I cannot do everything, …
April 13, 2009 | 32 Comments
… but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something I can do.”
~ Edward Everett Hale
Steve Badt was a chef at some of the trendiest restaurants in Washington D.C. and New York City. In August 2001, he quit. He decided to run a soup kitchen for the poor and homeless instead.
He oversees the menu at Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington, D.C., located in the basement of a church a mile away from the White House.
A sample menu: Omlettes with sauteed mushrooms, ham, onions and cheese; stone-ground grits; homemade home fries; green salad; and strawberry shortcake.
See an audio slideshow of a morning at Miriam’s.
Steve Badt’s Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Badt called the breakfast typical and says he treats his guests as paying customers.
He says he realized one day that once you’re on the street, it’s hard to get back on your feet.
“So my energy comes from the fact that — wow, if I can start these guys off with a beautiful meal and a great meal and a nutritious meal, will that increase the odds that maybe they’ll get housing, that maybe they’ll get off drugs, that maybe they’ll have a good day?”.
from NPR.org
Two months ago, when Michelle Obama visited Miram’s, Badt was serving over 200 homeless people daily, five days a week – items like mushroom risotto and curried zucchini. This is probably the only meal his guests eat all day. He tries to ensure it’s nutritious and sees them through the afternoon. He runs his kitchen with donations and his “staff” comprises entirely of volunteers.
What makes Steve Badt really unusual
Breakfast at Miriam’s
Check out this incredible story of how Belo Horizonte, Brazil‘s fourth-largest city recruited local farmers and citizens to wipe out hunger.
“I knew we had so much hunger in the world. But what is so upsetting, what I didn’t know when I started this, is it’s so easy. It’s so easy to end it.” ….
The cost of these efforts?
Around $10 million annually, or less than 2 percent of the city budget. That’s about a penny a day per Belo resident.
Soup Kitchens and homeless shelters around the country are witnessing a steep decline in donations along with a huge demand for services.
There are several ways to contribute – with money, donations of food, clothing and essentials, and manpower.
FOOD BANKS
If you live in the U.S., every state has one. Simply do a web search for the one from your state. e.g.: “Arkansas Food Bank”.
Here’s a Food Bank Search Directory by zip code. You can donate cash or look at your local food bank website policy on food donations and what types of volunteer services it is looking for.
For every dollar in cash you donate, the Food Bank may be able to leverage several more through their corporate sponsors who match public donations. So cash in the best way to donate.
To give you an idea, here’s what the Idaho Food Bank accepts (in addition to cash donations)
Proteins: Tuna, Peanut butter, Dried beans and peas, Canned meats, Dried meats
Grains: Cereal, Crackers, Rice, Oatmeal, Pasta
Staples: Sugar, Flour, Oil
Instant Foods (nonperishable)
Snack Foods
Cleaning Supplies
Personal Care Items
Baby Formula and diapers
While grocery shopping, it doesn’t take much effort to put an extra couple of cans or boxes into our shopping cart and donate them every few weeks at a designated place.
Things to remember:
1. Canned goods should be at least two years within the expiry date.
2. Get low-sodium versions of soup, beans, etc if possible.
3. Get whole grain cereals.
4. Avoid items with hydrogenated vegetable oils (transfats), high fructose corn syrup or food colouring.
Our foodbank has a Grow-A-Row program where they invite people to donate food grown in their own backyards. They also have a small community garden where they invite volunteers to till and sow the plot to grow food.
Check with your food bank to see if they do the same.
HOMELESS SHELTERS
There has been a alarming increase in the number of homeless across the country, especially women and children.
Check this nationwide directory for homeless shelters for those in your area.
These shelters need clothing, blankets, personal items. Above all they need money.
There are two types of shelters:
Night shelters, where the homeless can find a safe place to sleep.
Day shelters, where people who live in their cars or under a bridge can come for a shower, to use the telephone to call family members or future employers, do the laundry, etc.
Before donating to any organisation, we like to do some simple web research to ensure that they do not discriminate against people on the basis of gender, race or religion. Type “the name of the organisation+complaint” and see if anything shows up. Also check “the name of the organisation+discrimination”. Also check out the Charity Navigator to see how various organisations apportion and use their money.
We will be rotating our monthly donations between a night shelter and a day shelter.
If you wish to donate and are not sure which organisation you want to support, do check out the Interfaith Sanctuary in Boise. They desperately need a new roof and are organising a fundraising drive to reach their target of $30,000 by April 25, 2009.
Also, Corpus Christi House, which is a day shelter for the homeless run entirely by volunteers.
All donations are tax-deductible.
The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does. You have to really see the person. If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises. If you tune into the other person, you feel with them. If empathy arises, and if that person is in dire need, then empathic concern can come. You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act. So I’d say that compassion begins with attention. ~ Daniel Goleman
THE LONG ROAD
Vocals by Eddie Vedder and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
And I wished for so long, cannot stay…
All the precious moments, cannot stay…
It’s not like wings have fallen, cannot stay…
But I feel something’s missing, cannot say…
Holding hands are daughters and sons
And their faiths just falling down, down, down, down…
I have wished for so long
How I wish for you today
We all walk the long road. Cannot stay…
There’s no need to say goodbye…
All the friends and family
All the memories going round, round, round, round
I have wished for so long
How I wish for you today
And the wind keeps roaring
And the sky keeps turning gray
And the sun is set
The sun will rise another day…
We all walk the long road …
To those of our readers who celebrate Baisakhi and Vishu, we wish you a wonderful year ahead full of joy and discovery, free of hunger and pain.
- bee and jai
Filed Under: homeless shelter, hunger, Miriam's Kitchen, MUSINGS, soup kitchen, Steve Badt
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32 Comments
It feels so good to be able help the needy. And even more inspirational to see people who are willing to go a step furthur and do something.
I wish there were such organizations for the many poor, unsheletered and poverty-stricken in India also, would have made a HUGE difference.
World needs more people like him!
We just donate money to local Salvation Army few times a year.
Happy Vishu to you too.
A very happy Vishu to you too!
Vaisakhi diyan lakha crora vadhaiyan, vishu ashamsakal.
I think this is so far one of your best posts so far. I’ve been following your blog even before I started food blogging.
We do contribute to the food bank, but I was looking to do more. Thanks for the options. I will certainly look into these.
Thanks a ton. May I say it was inspiring. Just one simple post made a lot of difference on a Monday evening for me.
Wish you and happy Vishu!!
I think your opening quote says it all pretty much.
To me here, that would also include buying and using only as much as we need and trying to ensure that our wastage of food is minimal.
What an inspiring post–I loved reading about all these amazing people and ways to help. And it does feel so good to do something for others, doesn’t it? A very happy Vishu to you!
Thanks for all the info guys.. I have realized what we think is lot is often not enough. we have started doing more & more… esp. getting involved with the kids school programs here.. u have said it all..
Great post. Donating food to a food bank/pantry is one of the easiest direct things one can do. The point of checking whether they discriminate is a good one, I never thought about that before. I read the links..Steve’s attitude where he doesn’t approach it as “You should just consider yourself lucky that you get this”. I mean he doesn’t mind if the patrons voice their opinion and disagreement if they don’t like the food!
I think I would be mad if I worked so hard and people who were getting food for free complained about it. That’s just so selfless.
Wonderful inspiring post.
Paz
Wishing you a Happy Vishu!
I only hope we could eliminate hunger in India and here too. A penny a day per Belo resident….if that is the cost for the effort then it looks like we can do it if we put our minds into it.
Beautiful quote at the begining.
An excellent post..thank you
I organized something like this during the Tsunami. I’d worked with Fabmall, now Indiaplaza, and had them create an account where folks could buy groceries online and have it delivered to special boxes within their physical store. AID volunteers would pick the boxes up and take them to the affected areas. You’re right, it doesn’t cost very much and sometimes we do buy more than we really need. So giving it to someone who really needs it is a good idea.
Happy new year.
That is an excellent feature. Thanks so much for sharing. Unbridled optimism seems to be my thing, but I really do believe that a good meal can make a big difference in someone’s life. Hopefully someday I can volunteer in such a kitchen.
I am sure you are gonna touch hearts of many …this is such an inspirational post
Good to know about so many people ,doing their bit to eradicate hunger, and we too contribute a bit to society by various means
But still, i have found some institutions ridiculously ###$##….i wont name one, but a very popular old age home in our locality made me feel so bad about the whole system. We had just went to get the details about how many people are living in that home so that we could take some eatables accordingly, and to our horror,the management had audacity to tell us what all we SHOULD (rather than we could) bring. Still we thought maybe they need those things desperately(oil,soaps etc) so we took those too along with eatables and again to our shock, an insider told us that these things are then sold out to the shops and money obviously goes into wrong pockets.Upon that not all the food given in DONATION is distributed to the poor elders…and this left us feel cheated
Though there are many genuine NGO’s running around, but everytime i approach one, i am surely doubtful about their genuineness…pity people see INCOME in donations too
Lovely post. India needs soup kitchens – or somewhere the homeless can get a good meal. Hmm. Wonder if people who can afford food will also line up if you give out free food in India. Maybe that’s why we don’t have any. Just thinking aloud. Sorry.
Oh..another brilliant post. It’e like you just read my mind. Just yesterday while driving back home from work, I was thinking about an Abalashram that my mother has been donating to in Bangalore for many years now. She sponsors one girl and takes care of her education, food, clothes and also and upto her marriage. But she remains anonymous and doesnt want that girl to ever know my Mom’s details and vice versa. I was thinking how I wish I can do something similar and make a difference in somone’s life. And whola…I see this post from you today.
Now I just need to follow the path I am thinking and building.
Thoughtful and awakening post.Soup kitchens are such a blessing for needy.thank you for reminding us about importance of charity.
One of the meaning full and pratical post Bee. We sit miles away from India and when it comes to hunger we do pictu India or Africa. This post will open eyes around us.
Wish you a wonderful Vishu or New Year!
Lakshmi,
Could you please give more details of the Abalashram in Bangalore? We donate in money and kind to various causes, but haven’t yet donated specifically for girls or for the cause of women who have been abused to regain their plae in society. What you mentioned could be something I was looking for. Is there a website, phone or address where I could get more information from?
Jai and Bee,
Wonderful post…I am usually a silent spectator on your blog, but I had to come out of hiding since I wanted some info from like minded people…..keep up the good work.
check this out.
http://www.abalashram.org/
- bee
Quite a post. You are an inspiration.
p.s. Love the story about Badt making sure people got to choose their food.
This is such a great, inspiring and thought provoking post. Thanks Jai, Bee! Wish you both a very happy new year!
Very inspiring.Thanks for the post.
Happy new year!
Wonderful and inspiring post Bee. We also donate to our food bank regularly. For those who don’t know already, May 9th (it’s the 2nd Saturday every May) is the yearly Stamp out Hunger Food Drive. Place your non perishable food donations (canned food) near your mail box and the postman will pick it up.
Happy Vishu to you too Jai and Bee.
Bee, thanks for sending the link to Saving Grace.
I was first introduced to this place by my Mom’s friend who works at that Abalashram. During my college days, I never used to miss marriage of any girl who got married there. I always saw a strong, educated, working and a confident girl getting married, considering her childhood background.
So you can always do something for someone and make a difference in their life, no matter where you live. Thanks for all the charity org’s links in US dear Bee.
Thanks Bee for the link and thank you Lakshmi for mentioning about Abalashram here.
Happy Vishu/New Year J&B
I am very grateful that you put this article about Badt up on your site.
It made me weep.
May be I too could be a participant instead of a bystander.
Thanks again J&B
Thank you so much for yet another beautiful inspiring post!Very easy to forget within our own struggles that there are always those who struggle severely to survive.Always inspiring to see how people find creative ways to reach out and lend a hand,embracing others and regaining perspective as to what really is important!May we learn and follow,each in his own unique way!
Happy Holidays,wishing you Joy & Light!
That poem is beautiful! Much like your post.
Thanks for all the links.