nobody does do it like Sara Lee

So we made a few connections in the last couple of weeks with some local companies. We are now getting donations twice a year from a company that will send us 300 chicken patties that we can cook up and give to our friends living on the streets in Cincinnati.

This was good, but it got us thinking...we can probably do better. So we start telling folks about this connection and how that free food will free up some other money to go out and buy clothes or other items that will help these men and women out even more.

Enter City Barbeque. They gave us about 100 lbs. of pulled pork last week...and we're getting more this week. Normally we could make 800 sandwiches with that...but we just made 400 really big ones this time. Next week we're going to make twice as many so they'll have "to go" bags.

Enter Sara Lee. We called them - and turns out the lady we needed to talk to went to a certain local church with cup holders in their seats and a sexy Director of Outreach on their staff...and she was more than happy to put us on their list of folks they now donate food to. We made sure they called the other groups they donate food to because we didn't want to step on their toes...and apparently there's more than enough for everyone.

In fact, they just called with 563 pounds of turkey we can have. Just like that. That should save us enough food to buy battery less flashlights and maybe some shirts that we can give out. We found out just how important flashlights are when we took food downtown to folks living under the bridge. We're just trying to take it the next logical step and to take the "what do they do with them once the batteries run out?"

So now I'm asking everyone. Do you have any connections to a guy that sells clothes that occasionally has overruns, closeouts, misprints or irregulars that he's getting rid of? Do you know a gal that sells deodorant, toothbrushes, or other toiletries and would like to get a tax write off? How about anyone that has a basement full of....you name it...we could probably find someone in our Mercy Work ministry or living downtown who could use it...

couldn't hurt to ask...