This is the one and only entry into a paper journal I wrote when I started blogging. It’s from Febuary 26th, 2004
God has a funny way of working with us sometimes. PhotoJulia bought this journal because she thought the cover was neat (and it is, too) but here I am writing in it.
Last week (or was it two) I started a blog simply on a whim. I haven’t used it yet b ut I think that I will. I established it to relate stories of our adventures in the Burrito and Socks Ministry. So far I haven’t even mentioned it but I think I will make a point to enter something every week. Hopefully, I can get PK or Big Mike (or anyone else) to contribute also. This may be a good way to encourage others and to share with those who cannot join us Thursday nights.
Tonight didn’t go as planned. We did meet and greet but it didn’t have the same satisfaction. One main reason I suspect is because we didn’t have burritos tonight. We’d been warned about getting into trouble with the cops because they didn’t want people helping the homeless. They probably don’t want to encourage the homeless because they detract from the beauty of El Cajon. One warning had to do with serving homemade food items. Peviously, another group serving the homeless pointed out that was legal to give away pre-packaged food items so this week we gave out puddin’ cups and water. We had planned to give out pop-tarts and granola bars but the pudding was the big hit so we stuck with that. I tell you this, the chocolate pudding was no substitute for some cheap, home-made, bean, cheese, rice and salsa burritos.
Well, my mind is starting to get distracted so while I have more to say, I’m going to end here tonight. Maybe I can save the rest for my blog tomorrow. Thank you PhotoJulia for my new journal. It rocks!
After this entry I started using the journal for taking notes during mid-week studies and sermons. The blog doesn’t get a new post for another two months. The Burrito and Socks Ministry was in service for 18 months. About amonth ago I wrote to one of the girls who had been with us untill she moved farther north.
“Hey, ei_socket. First let me just say, we miss you. Second, I signed up with a xanga account just so I could post comments on your blog (and someone else’s).
The BSM was retired some time ago. www.burritoandsocks.com has more about when and why. Essentially, we realized that our efforts there were having little impact and that there wasn’t this big shortage of ministries serving the homeless (it started getting crowded out there). Instead, we refocused our energies into other ministries that were lacking in general and that Kaleo could better fill with our resources. Currently, Big Mike is involved with East County Pregnancy Care Center and Cool Mike is involved with Care House Life Ministries. Thomas has just started his own ministry called Abandoned But Precious. This is a ministry to help orphans in India. I am still trying to find my calling so please pray for me on that.
In other news…Big Mike is now a Deacon, cool Mike is a deacon-in-training, Mark is an Elder candidate and we’re still meeting in the AMC theaters in Mission Valley. Overall, Kaleo has gotten a lot busier and is still growing. Our weekly attendance is at 150+ and climbing. I could go on but it’s 7:30am saturday morning and I still need to get my bills done. check out my blog and click on the worship catagory. I think you’ll like it (especially Personal Worship)
Love in Christ, archshrk
But there’s hope on the horizon. We may get a chance to legally serve the homeless again. I’ll tell you more about that when I get the details but we’re all very excited. Praise God!
At first I didn’t understand… you are transcribing from a personal old-school paper journal, correct?
Where is it illegal to give homeless people homemade food?
By the way, your blog is taking a LONG time to load. What’s going on?
To answer your first question, Yes. This is transcribed from an old-fashion paper journal. The kind you use pen or pencil to write in (not a mouse). As for not giving away homemade food, I talked about it in Jaywalking for Jesus. We also discussed the matter on the fourms for Kaleo Church here. It comes down to a simple health code. Food for public consumption must be prepared in a County approved kitchen. The kind that get inspected and what-not. And since the homeless are part of the “public” it applies to them as well. Keep in mind that the intent is not to punish the homeless but to protect the public from food prepared in unsafe conditions. Unfortunately it’s too broad a statement but those willing to violate health issues could argue they were giving the food away, not selling it.
If you look at your local codes, you may find similar restictions apply where you live. The difficulty is the cost of feeding them legally. We could make 48 burritos at 50¢ each but prepackaged food costs more. Even Taco Hell cost more than 50¢ and doesn’t taste near as good as ours did.
Oh, and I don’t know why the site is slow. It could be I have too much “stuff” or that the hosting company is feeling over-loaded right now.