“Hot as Hell” Party!

Once again my girl Tally has thrown another party and this time it was in our honor =)

It was hosted by  W. Alabama Icehouse for some fun in the sun at The “Hot as Hell” Party presented by Lone Star Beer, EAT MORE HEAT!, and The Spicy RV crew!

We had awesome ‘Hot as Hell’ vendors join us- Big Daddy’s Hot Sauces, Texas Food, and Texas Firecrackers.

Also there was a 30ft waterslide, a swimsuit contest, and live music by The Flaming Hellcats.

There was a prize drawing and two complimentary beer tickets with a $5 donation or a case of bottled water that was for us to use for feeding the less fortunate.

I wish I could add a little bit of personal experience to the event but I was so sick that weekend- I missed my first event ever. =(

What I CAN say is that from the bottom of my heart I truly appreciate everything Tally, James, David and Denise (She volunteered to fill my spot that day!)  do for Noah’s Kitchen.

Together $550 and 21 cases of water were raised!!!

I will leave you with some pictures I ‘borrowed’ from Tally =)

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4th of July at The Mezzanine

Sunday we were invited to take part in The Mezzanine’s Annual 4th of July Picnic on the Patio. $10 AYCE crawfish and sausage brought out a LOT of people- including their wonderful regulars! The crawfish and sausage were spicy and oh so good! (I went back for seconds, myself.) Between 3pm and 8pm The Mezzanine raised $400, four cases of water, and even a case of dog food.  Thank you so much to Tanya, Tommy, and the super awesome staff- the Mezzanine has always been one of my most favorite places to go. From Snowman poker league to the Blue Room, and the Bloody Mary bar… you can’t go wrong =)

Lonestar Landowners Challenge

This week was pretty busy with two awesome events.

Thursday was the Lonestar Landowners Challenge.  My good friend Tally of Lonestar Beer and Travis of Griff’s was hosting a ‘competition’ of sorts to give away a piece of lakefront property on Lake Conroe. There were 3 lucky contestants that were competing against each other in order to win this piece of land. Their friends and family’s were invited out to cheer them on, drink some Lonestar, and eat some fried catfish donated by Griff’s. The plates were sold at $7 with all proceeds going to Noah’s Kitchen.

They raised $365 for us and the winner of the challenge was none other than a local Houston man.

Much love to Tally, Travis, Lonestar Beer, and Griff’s!

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Update #12

It’s been a WHILE since we’ve had a write up-so… let’s play catch up! Wednesday June 15th David Martin and met up for a late lunch then headed over to the Star of Hope to hand out some clothes and kids games  to the  family we had met the Sunday of the AFHouston teen handout. It was nice to see them again- the kids remember me, which was a nice feeling =) We also handed out Help Cards to the family and a few others in the front waiting room. The Help cards are really cool and resourceful. I stumbled across it on the Coalition for the Homeless web site and it’s basically a reference card to where the less fortunate can get help at emergency shelters, help with food, medical assistance, help with employment, transportation to and from hospitals, and SO much more. This was the first time I had passed these out but I continue to use them st and also pass out ‘Search’ resource/ referral cards as well.

Thursday the 16th was a really big day for Noah’s Kitchen. Candace and I reviewed the 501c3 paperwork and we headed to the post office. We stood in line for what felt like FOREVER, just to get to our turn. Through double and triple checks, we sent out our paperwork to be processed!

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Fighting Hunger, SLGT, and all the Crawfish You Can Eat!

Have you ever been to the The Mezzanine Lounge? If you haven’t, well GO! They are a very awesome casual inner loop sports bar & neighborhood lounge on the corner of HW59 and Shepard. Think “Cheers” but with more televisions, trivia, and games.

Every year, “The Mezz” and its owner Tonya Bauer hosts a 4th of July Fundraiser benefiting a local charity and this year, we are fortunate and honored that they will be sponsoring us with a “Picnic on the Patio” Fourth of July Crawfish & Sausage Broil!

This event is going to be awesome and is bound to be a great time for many reasons. One, a fundraiser like this will lead to us being able to feed more of the people in need here in Houston. Another big reason is that it will help feed…. ME! I’m always down to eat pounds and pounds of crawfish. Unfortunately, I eat them like a guy from New Jersey. Literally. I grew up back east and it takes me five minutes to eat one of those suckers, even though I love them. I might actually be there all day trying to get my fill. LOL. In any case, definitely come join the crew for a great time at the fundraiser of the fourth of July!

BTW – Did you know this isn’t the first time that Mezzanine Lounge has contributed to our cause of helping the homeless? A short while ago, Amber and I actually got together with the fine folks at thecagedoor.net for a community outreach project led by Houston’s MMA Fighters. For those of you that don’t know, these are the guys that fight in the cage, UFC-style. This event was put together because these local athletes wanted to dispel rumors that they are only about violence. Over 80% of these fighters have college degrees and professional jobs outside of their sport. An even bigger percentage have HUGE hearts and want to help support the local community! #SLGT 

Check out the video of what we were able to accomplish on May 29th  with the help of Noah’s Kitchen, The Mezzanine Lounge, and a few other great local businesses here in Houston!

Full recap of this event here

• Mezzanine Lounge – Website
• Tonya Bauer – Facebook
• TheCageDoor.net – Website

Community Outreach Project with the Aids Foundation of Houston

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to work with some very awesome kids via the Aids Foundation of Houston as part of their Universal Teen Leadership Forum. The goal for the Universal Teen Leadership program is to assist participants in transitioning from adolescence to adulthood as self-reliant, successful, informed individuals. Many of the kids we worked with are graduates of Camp HOPE, which began in 1996 and is the first summer camp designed specifically for children ages 7-15 with HIV/AIDS in Texas.

Sunday’s community outreach program with these kids was part of their curriculum that dealt with giving. They were able to accomplish that by making and distributing meals to the homeless is three areas in downtown Houston. It was hope that by accomplishing this mission, the children would not only feel empowered to help themselves and others, but also see life from the perspective that the glass is half full, never half empty, and can always have meaning.

Thank you to Courtenay Siegfried and Mark Cohen of AF Houston for bringing these awesome and kind-hearted kids out to work with Amber, Candace, Denise, and myself. I hope the work we did together had as much of an impact on them as it did with us. I know their courage certainly resonated with me and I will take our shared experience through for a lifetime.

Below is the video I made of what we were able to accomplish on Sunday.

Post from a Mentor with AFHouston. MUST READ! =)

Taking the time to look…

universalteens mentor 13 June 2010 | 0 Comments

Today was easily the most beautiful day of my life. This morning, Marc and I took 1/3 of the kids to volunteer at Noah’s Kitchen, while others visited two other organizations serving Houston’s homeless. The experience left me speechless (although, I’m trying to put it into words here), inspired and with a renewed perspective on the “important” things.

Noah’s Kitchen was started this year through the incredible dedication, selflessness and passion of Amber Rodriguez and her son, Noah. Volunteers meet every other Sunday to pack a simple meal of water, sandwich, bagel, banana and water and deliver 200+ meals to men, women and kids living on the street. The kids were critically impacted by the sheer number of people living on the streets in Houston, and we only saw a small piece of this giant issue. We were moved by the people’s stories, as we handed them their sack lunch. At James Bute Park, a mom and her two toddler boys told us that they’d been on the streets for two weeks because she’d made one mistake and lost her job. Under an overpass, a 19 year-old boy told two of our teens that his mom kicked him out two years ago. And the stories go on. After each stop, the kids returned to the van visibly affected, and some even in tears — and for different reasons; one because she could see herself in the 19 year-old boy, another because she realized that no matter how bad her life seemed, someone else’s was worse, and another because he hurt to see other human beings in such dire straights.

I have never been more proud of a group of kids (or adults, for that matter) than today, as I witnessed the UniversalTeens (whose lives sometimes really, really suck) gain an understanding of the power of giving back–and not just with food to fill an empty belly, but also by treating others with the simple kindness of shared humanity. And it wasn’t just the Noah’s Kitchen group that walked away feeling fuller, brighter and empowered…it was all of us who are participating in this amazing program.

There’s simply no way to capture the emotion of today. All I can say is, thank you to all the kids, and Amber Rodriguez, for inspiring me, educating me and allowing me to be a part of your life for a moment in time. I hope to one day have the inner strength and beauty that you all have shown me today.

Guest Blog Tweet-Up 5-30-10 by: Denise Voyles

Howdy! My name is Denise Voyles and I have been asked by Amber and Candace to be the guest blogger from the May 30^th tweet-up.  I am very proud and honored to be able to provide my support and time to Noah’s Kitchen, which is a fantastic organization.

A little information about me, I am a register nurse (RN) working for a nursing education company. In addition, I am also working on my Master’s degree in Nursing Education. Between my job and school work, I don’t have much free time me, =) . I found out about Noah’s Kitchen through Twitter (which I have a good friend to thank for convincing me to join). After finding out more about the mission and purpose of Noah’s Kitchen, I felt that this was a great organization.

A small group of volunteers were present for the tweet-up, probably due to the fact it was a holiday weekend. In honor of the holiday weekend, the meals contained hotdogs and chips, instead of the normal peanut butter sandwiches and bananas. The food and water that was passed out to the homeless on May 30^th was all donated.  The food was provided by the Kingwood Bagel Company, Arthritis Foundation, Smart Meals, and PG Team.  I provided the water. Even with a small group of volunteers, we were able to quickly prepare over a 120 meals!

Safety of the volunteers is very important to Amber and Candace.  They stress that all groups going to hand out food to the homeless include a male.  This week, there was only one male available to pass out the food.  The meals were loaded up into two vehicles and we caravanned to pass out the food.  I truly believe that all good deeds will provide even more opportunities to the volunteers and founders.  While handing out the food, Amber and Candace made a contact with (I don’t his name).  He is going to help provide Noah’s Kitchen with security when the meals are being handed out, eventually.

If you know of any areas with a homeless population, please inform Noah’s Kitchen.

Thank you, Amber and Candace for helping make Houston a great to live.

Denise

Update #11

Candace and I had lunch at Little Bigs on the 12th. I guess this is one of our favorite places now? =)

Gil Velasquez met up with us and we chatted about this and that. I know I’ve said this before but this thing – this organization – is growing. FAST.

With all the papers and info we cart around… we can finally afford a business ‘necessity’. We came to the conclusion that we needed netbooks or something of the sort to decrease the load. We decided to get together on the 13th and check them out together.  =)

Now Gil is all kinds of smart so we decided to let him tag along Just kidding! But really, Gil is smart and we knew he would help us make the best decision for the company  and the money we budgeted. We browsed for a while before choosing modest, matching models. We sent them home with Gil so he could get them set up for us. Wow – so exciting!!!

The 15th I took Candace on what would ber her 1st and coolest Noah’s Kitchen food shopping experience. We met a really sweet man Kurt and his daughter. You should read her blog HERE:

http://noahskitchen.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/kurt/

What a touching situation.

The 16th we had out usual Sunday handout. Mike Quigley wrote the guest blog which you can read HERE: http://noahskitchen.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/guest-blog-for-may-16th-tweet-up-by-michael-quigley/

Thanks Mike!!!

The 18th I met with the amazing Kerri Ryan of KRyanoutloud Marketing who was helping us design a fresh logo for Noah’s Kitchen. Her work was beautiful of course. We even had Noah give his opinion Kerri also posted a poll to get the people’s opinions =)

See??

http://ht.ly/1Nhjz

Our fabulous banker  Ana Palacios invited us out to a suite at Minute Maid Park to network with other non-profits. We had a blast and the Astros even won with a triple in the 8th! Thanks Ana!!!

Thursday the 20th I dropped Noah off at school for a half-day. He had a special presentation to make. Noah was asked to pick a compound word, create a simple presentation, and present it to all the classes from his school. He chose ‘non-profit’. From what I understand he got to educate his classmates on Noah’s Kitchen and what we do. That boy sure does make his mama proud.

That evening was the Mission 3 Team Houston Twitter Party at Dean’s  Credit Clothing. Team Houston aka Amber and Mark provided an open bar, koozies designed by the talented Molly Rodriguez, and @eatsbananas even made an appearance!

Friday the 21st Candace along with the help of sweet Sarah Lowery picked up our first donation from Smart Meals. We’ve recently partnered up with them, and couldn’t be more excited! If you’re in the dark about it – read this!  http://noahskitchen.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/smart-support-from-smart-meals/

Saturday the 22nd I got a call from my father, Andy Rodriguez. For those of you who don’t know –  He is a musician who plays solo and also with Harmony Groove. (He also puts a roof over me and Noah’s head. Without it – Noah’s Kitchen could have NEVER come this far!) That day they played a benefit for the Arthritis Foundation and they had a surplus of food. Well, my Dad being awesome as usual – threw our name out there. Next think you know We have a ton of food! Thanks Dad!!

Monday the 24th I received an email from Keri- with the final revisions for our logo’s. We chose a general one – and one we’ll eventually make into buttons. What do YOU think?? =)

Thank you SO much Keri for all of your hard work!!!

Also Candace, Robb,and I met up to hand out some of the food we had received from the Arthritis Foundation. It was kind of nice change of pace. Not to be in a hurry to hand out the meals. There was a man with a puppy teacup chihuahua. I pet it for a while, looking it over. It seemed healthy enough. It’s tiny belly wasn’t distended, it wasn’t lethargic, and still friendly enough for what I’m assuming is the only life it has ever known. That’s hard to gauge though when you see it eating off the end of an ox tail and drinking water out of a vienna sausage cup. I told his owner Max, that I would bring some more suitable food and possibly a proper bowl on Sunday.  *Sigh* My heart aches for their companions.  I had the opportunity to talk with different people, finding out what they needed and some of the issues they were facing currently. One gentleman who stood out to me , whose name was Arthur, I saw sharing the meals he had received with the others around him. I stopped to chat. His story was positive though sad. He was on the streets. Wanted work, didn’t do drugs, didn’t drink, didn’t even have a smoking habit to support. He wanted to be back on his feet. I told Arthur I would talk with some friends and see what I could do for him, if anything.

I understand the vicious cycle of their streets.

I’ve had friends on them.

How the Ford Fiesta Movement ties in with Noah’s Kitchen

Noah’s Kitchen wants to thank everyone for all their care, love, and help as we move closer and closer to our goal of having the first vehicle in our service outreach fleet – a new Ford Fiesta courtesy of Mark & Amber’s participation in the Ford Fiesta Movement.
Recently, we noticed a lot of questions flying around and people not understanding what the Ford Fiesta Movement is, how it works, how we benefit, and so on.  So we figured we could take some time to clear the air since many people don’t understand the point of the events, how they work, and how Noah’s Kitchen benefits.  Every Houston participation logged into the Ford Fiesta Movement – whether through a Retweet, Text Message, attendance at an event – adds to our overall point total as a city.  If Houston wins, then Mark & Amber will be giving a Ford Fiesta Car to Noah’s Kitchen as its first fleet vehicle.

So for all those who have texted, thank you.  For those who did the Retweet when we needed you to, or did a Tweet with the #fiestamovement hashtag or hashtag as we needed you to, thank you.  For those who attended events and checked in on foursquare.com as instructed, thank you.  Each participatory act, whatever the request was, helped accumulate more points for Houston, thus bringing Noah’s Kitchen close to getting the car.

We are aware of the vast confusion on the brand identity of the event itself, and many people asked things such as “Wait, if this is Warehouse Live doing this with Mark & Amber, how exactly is Noah’s Kitchen tied in?  Where was your banner on the site?  How come we did not see Noah’s Kitchen on a benefitting statement?” – well, simply put, Ford Motor Company controls the Ford Fiesta Movement Site and since Mark & Amber are the ones working tirelessly to get this car for Noah’s Kitchen, it’s not possible on every engaged event to get everything out there saying “this is for Noah’s Kitchen.”  Likewise, Mark & Amber are the ones receiving the credit on the Ford Fiesta Site for their work in promoting Houston, and they are winning a car for Noah’s Kitchen.  We should note that of all the major metropolitan areas that participated in the Ford Fiesta Movement, only Houston is donating a car to charity, and that was the brainchild idea of Mark & Amber.  Which means we are the only city doing this for a cause in the Ford Fiesta Movement – pat yourselves on the back, folks, for not just being forward-thinking, but for showing the other cities the real definition of #SLGT.  We know that there is some promotion of the Ford Fiesta going on as a result, but at the end of the day, if we have to give a little hype for a fuel-efficient vehicle that could ultimately end up our first fleet vehicle, we think that’s a tiny price to pay to do such an enormous amount of good.

While we try hard to get the brand awareness out there, we realize that by simply doing a Google search on “fiesta movement” will take you to the Ford site and that you won’t see a statement from Ford saying on the Fiesta Movement site that a car is going to us.  That’s because the team members themselves have pledged to give a Ford Fiesta to us publicly.  So, yes, there is a one-degree of brand separation that has caused a lot of confusion.  Rest assured – helping the #fiestamovement in Houston helps us.  And when you help Noah’s Kitchen through the #fiestamovement, you are helping those in hunger find sustenance – and that should give you all the warm fuzzies you can handle!.

So, when you text when we plead, you are making a difference.  When you Retweet what Mark, Amber, or Noah’s Kitchen (or anyone) asks you to for the #fiestamovement, we thank you for your positive impact.  When you show your love for Houston with an avatar change, then you are spreading that love to those in need.  Thank you for everything you are doing in the #fiestamovement and helping to win Noah’s Kitchen a Ford Fiesta as its first fleet vehicle!