The "soup kitchen" evolves

[serene]

There are a lot of people in our neighborhood who live on the street. We
like them, and we try to toss extra [money|scarves|food] their way. We
know some of their names, but not all of them. They are sweet to us, and
when one of us is out walking alone, they ask about the other one.

When I was in San Diego, a church group I belonged to (yeah, that was a
lonnnnng time ago) used to make bag lunches and take them to the park once
a week. I felt like it was something tangible I could do to help.

I worked with Food Not Bombs for a little while, and I liked doing it
(except for the food-safety issues -- eek!), but it means being away from
my home for the better part of a day, and that can be difficult for me on
the amount of time and energy I have these days. Not only that, but it
doesn't address these particular people in my particular neighborhood,
people I've come to care about.

Lately, I've been wanting to do some kind of "soup kitchen" thing --
there's a park across the street from me, and I thought I might set up a
big soup pot on one of the grills there and serve soup to whoever wanted
it until it was gone. Logistical problems exist with that, though the joy
of SOUP! might cancel them out -- how to manage providing and cleaning
bowls and spoons, for one thing. (The sandwich idea from my church days
is a fine idea, but I want to provide *hot* food. It's *winter*, y'know?)

I still may do the soup thing, but someotherguy had another idea
that might be better, logistically speaking: burritos.

I am going to make up a big batch of burritos (solving the bowl/spoon
problem; only foil would be needed) and keep them in some kind of
insulated container for passing out while they're hot. Maybe an insulated
backpack. Maybe a rolling cooler?

We already carry around stuff that we want to share with the folks while
we're on our walks. The most recent thing we've picked up is a few
handwarmers that might be helpful in this cold. We're also planning to
buy some lightweight blankets. So maybe we could set up some kind of pack
of stuff and food that we could carry around with us. I'm thinking also
juiceboxes.

We have a Costco membership, so this is within our means, especially if we
buy beans/tortillas/foil/etc. in huge bulk. I plan to do it once a week,
around the same time every week.

Probable menu:

Burritos (pinto beans, spanish rice) (cheese presents a spoilage problem,
but it's so yummy. I'm torn)
Juice box
Piece of fruit

So next Costco trip, I think I need to buy the following:

pinto beans
flour tortillas
rice
salsa
oil
salt
foil
napkins
juice boxes

and then get the following fresh stuff at the Berkeley Bowl:

onions
garlic
bell peppers
fruit


If you feel like giving me input and pointing out flaws in my plan, please
do. I'm aware that some municipalities are cracking down on feeding the
homeless, and I don't care about that.