HOT Meals: The Toadfish Monastery Food Drive

[Opsa]

Siblings Aggie and Chatty have suggested a Monastery-wide food drive called HOT Meals.

Siblings are encouraged to donate to their local food banks and report their donations here.

Each penny spent on donated food equals one T.U. (Toadfish Unit),each minute of donated time to charity equals 1 T.U.  and each penny (or smallest denomination) equivalent equals 1 T.U. This includes coins placed into a homeless person's hand, dropped into a little charity bucket or any check mailed to any charity.

TALLY HO as of November 17, 2009:

256,414 Toadfish Units Donated!






My kid's school had a drive where we donated boxes of Mashed Potato Mix. Would that count?

[Aggie]

Sure!  I'm not sure how we want to count this one...  let's just keep a running total of items.  Remember that volunteer hours count if worked in assistance of the food bank, meal programs or similar (I'm planning on doing some volunteer time with the local food bank this Holiday season).  Any other type of food-sharing activities are welcome too (maybe making and handing out sandwiches to people living on the street), so feel free to get creative.

Let's establish HOT as being committed to sharing a meal with those who would otherwise go without.  If you're too humble to post your contributions directly, feel free to PM one of the Mods and we'll add an anonymous contribution.

[Opsa]

Here's a silly idea that occurred to me in the middle of the night: How much does the average toadfish weigh?

My guess is about 8 ounces, or 240 milliliters. Maybe we could call each of these amounts a Toadfish Unit.

So if I donated a 32 ounce box of mashed potatos, it could be said that I donated 4 Toadfish units.

I don't think we necessarily have to show each donor's name, but the Monastery's donation as a whole.

We might choose to count 15 minute blocks of time as Toadfish Units, or just use real time donated.

[Sibling Chatty]

The local Assistance Ministry that helps out with food and meds and has a resale shop is closed on weekends. A local woman with two little kids had been in Galveston (3 hours away) caring for her Grandmother who had been sent home from the hospital to die, and was gone for three weeks. After she got back here from the funeral (late last night) her Very Unhappy Husband left--taking the car and the money--and she had 2 kids and no food in the house.

A friend told us about it, and was getting together food for them. We sent 2 pounds of ground chuck, a chicken, three onions, a 2 pound bag of rice, some potatoes, 6 cans of assorted canned peaches, pears & pineapple, teabags, a bag of sugar, 2 jars of peanut butter (smooth--I prefer crunchy) a big jar of grape jelly, a tub of margarine, a loaf of bread and 4 boxes of Jello. (Shelf stable and frozen foods tend to be abundant at my house. Having been without in the past, I make sure there's something there.)

Indications are that Husband may be back, after he goes on a good three day drunk. I bit the inside of my mouth and did NOT say "Throw him out until he sobers up" because that is not my job or my prerogative. I sure thought it, though.

Anyway, there's a start for HOT Meals.

[Opsa]

Oh Chatty, that's wonderful. I counted at least 32 Toadfish units there.

You're suggestion about volunteering at soup kitchens, food banks, etc. deserves Toadfish units as well. I'm thinking each hour could be four Toadfish units, or 1 per 15 minutes. If you drive around giving homeless people blankets for two hours, you could report 8 T.U.s

You probably put some time in getting these people this needed food. I am in awe of you, with all your troubles giving to someone else in need.

I'll keep a tally in the first post here.

Oh! I put a can of tuna,  jar of peanut butter, a box of mac'n'cheese, a bag of fusilli, an envelope of tomato/basil sauce and a six pack of ramen noodle soup in a donation bag the boy scouts sent around. that's another 7 T.U.'s to go with the previous 4.

[Opsa]

To encourage Toadfish to give to charity, we've adjusted the Toadfish Units to read one per each donated minute and one per each donated penny or smallest national monetary fraction.

Here in the state, we have people starrt to appear in front of stores around now with little red buckets asking for coins for the Salvation Army (which helps the homeless). We also see a lot of opportunities to give to charities such as the Cancer Foundation, March of Dimes and Christmas Seals. All of these pennies count! So do the ones you might press into a homeless person's hand on the street.

So if you happen to remember what you've given in food, time or money, please post it here to be counted, or if you're extra humble, you can PM it to one of the admins or mods here to be included.

Thank you for giving!

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

The weather's about to get colder here, so I grabbed a few extra cans of soup at the grocery store last night and dropped them in the food drive box.

Mark down a few more TUs:

- qty-2 x vegetable soup (8 oz) - 2 TU
- gty-1 x pea soup with ham (25 oz) - 3 TU



Late to the party as usual, but I'm here now.   

[Opsa]

Thank you, darl!!!!! That'll warm some hungry person!

Plus, we have 200 TU in cash donations just in.

[Sibling Chatty]

They're not direct TU's, but the officers of the troops that we fed at Thanksgiving took up the idea, and had a food drive for the food pantries in Copperas Cove and Killeen. In 3 days, they collected two pickup truck loads of food, plus over $300 to put into gift cards for groceries, and 27 boxes of disposable diapers. (They've figured out what their food pantries needed most, and went for that.)

[Opsa]

Beautiful! What lovely people.

This just in: 3508 T.U.'s from Sibling Vita, who has  made very generous donations in time (preparing meals for the ill), food and holiday gift cards to people in need.

We'll be counting cash spent on gift cards and toys for tots, as needy people will be using them for their families instead of their money for food, so it all goes to hot meals, somehow.

[Sibling Kephra (Tansy)]

I forgot... last week the crazies raided my pantry and took cans for the school drive.
1 can beans
2 cans soup
1 tin tuna
2 packets noodle sidedish

[Sibling Chatty]

Tomorrow is Brazos Valley Volunteers Luncheon, and there's always a food pantry donation box. (They will NOT take the cost per person of the luncheon and put it into the money for food, no matter how I try to convince them that it's a good idea.)

I have:

4 cans of Chunky Soup, SirloinBurger
4 cans       "       , Potato (Vegetarian)
6 cans boneless chicken in broth, whole
6 cans tuna
6 cans green beans
6 cans corn
6 cans black-eyed peas
6 boxes Cheerios, asst. flavors
12 boxes of saltine crackers

I was really sloppy with my loose change this fall. I save it up and buy stuff for the food pantry with it, and the manager at Costco figured it out, and sent the chicken, tuna and Cheerios with me free of charge! (Costco's in Houston, we're not, but it's within his discretion to do that with their donated stuff, so he did.)

[Opsa]

Toadily excellent, good Kephra and Chatty! I'm upping it by 122 TU's. Is that about right?

[Sibling Chatty]

I have an aversion to counting 'costs' or credits. It makes my head hurt, as it has to do with numbers, and i'm mathphobic. And lazy.

[Opsa]

Me too.

The important thing is to give if you can, and if you happen to remember what, just give us a buzz here, or PM with anonymous details.

I've been popping in some numbers from anonymous sources.