February and March

These last two months have been pretty busy for me/us.

Our February 5th handout we were joined by some very special people. Our volunteer Heather had her parents Mark and Shelly Lewis. They drove all the way from Michigan bringing a truck bed full supplies with them donated by their Church. Talking with Mark and Shelly I understood this was a big change from what they were used to seeing as Michigan doesn’t have much of a homeless problem. I wanted to put into words how this made me feel but I think Shelly’s Facebook post said it most clearly, ” Wow, what a way to round out our vacation! Mark  and I just spent the morning working with Noah’s Kitchen preparing meals and taking them out into the streets of Houston to feed the homeless. What a humbling experience it was. My heart breaks for them all. The gratitude they showed with stay with me for the rest of my life. We took them clothes and gave shoes to a man who was barefoot. I’m crying as I type this because I AM SO OVERWHELMED!!!! Please be grateful for what you have and if you ever get the opportunity, do this in your town. You will not regret it and they will be more touched then you will ever know.” I know what we do is help the  less fortunate but seeing how our volunteers are touched can re-inspire every time.

February 6th I had a meeting with Melany, the store manager of Starbucks in Humble who was interested in coordinating their April community/”giving back” month.  We decided tot set up volunteers for our 3rd annual chili cookoff on April 15th. (Yay!)

 On the 11th my fiance’ and I found out some wonderful news, we’d be adding our youngest “volunteer” to Noah’s Kitchen. We confirmed this on the 13th with my OB giving us a due date of the second week in September. <3 Pretty excited to expand our little family! A little nervous as I am a high-risk pregnancy due to my previous losses but things seem to be going well and over four months in, I’m feeling more and more positive each day.

We had our scheduled handouts of February and at the beginning of March found out some frustrating news. I’m sure if you follow us on Twitter or on Facebook you have seen our posts about the Feeding Ordinance Mayor Parker and Houston is trying to impose on us and every other small organization in Harris County.  I’ve been contacted by Council Member (and lied to) and by news stations as well. I said the same thing to each of them and my feelings on this still stand, “ So after seriously reviewing said proposed “Feeding Ordinance” being voted on this Wed (3/5) It basically states we have to follow strict prepping/feeding guidelines that we can only feed on specified “health dept approved” places, at certain times, only certain parks, with approval each and every time… blah blah blah more RED TAPE… so really, we can’t feed the way we have been or even pass out meals to the homeless on the corners or under bridges (which is how we STARTED and our MISSION – reaching those who can’t get to more “known” feeding areas!) without being subject to “up to a $2000 fine” EVERY TIME. How is it that it has become IMPOSSIBLE for smaller org’s like us to help our neighbors and also become CRIMINALS IN THE PROCESS?! If this get’s passed it may shut US and dozens of other Houston organizations just like us down.”  (Yes I’m very passionate about this!)   Now there have been two public sessions, one vote,  and we are up to have a third session  and second vote Wednesday. There are close to 500 strong who openly stand against this ordinance but from the Mayor stands as of today (4/2), she feels she will win the vote. We have groups, petitions, and hundreds of people gathering to stand against this but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’m beginning to wonder who the Mayor actually stands for and if there is something more to passing this bill. (Oh yeah, it’s MONEY.)   On our last handout we interviewed several of our less fortunate friends and they gave us their feelings on the Feeding Ordinance being proposed.  We’ll see how this goes.  Wish us luck… 

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