Habitat for Humanity

Once the Ironman mania faded, I realized that I would have plenty of time on my hands during the long Summer here in Charlottesville.

I have used the extra time to ponder my future. I realized that computer science is not as good a way to help society as I once had imagined. So, in parallel with my newfound interest in cooking, I decided upon a plan of action that would allow me to give something back to the community.

The idea was simple enough: provide free food to volunteer organizations. I have had plenty of interactions with volunteer groups and events in High School. My mom was always active in these groups and was a specialist in tracking down food to feed the volunteers. She always had a difficult time finding restuarants to donate. So, why not create a volunteer organization that would do this very thing?

Obviously embarking on the volunteer catering journey would require lots of overhead in terms of people and capital. People would be needed to prepare the food and deliver it and money would be needed to purchase the raw goods.

I decided to start small. I contacted the local Habitat for Humanity office and asked if they were looking for people to donate food for their Saturday builds. The volunteer coordinator was thrilled at the offer and set me up with this Saturday's build in downtown Charlottesville.

I was told to expect around 15-20 people. Last night, Amanda and I went to Harris Teeter to purchase the goods. We bought the following:
1.5 lbs of turkey and ham
2 loaves of bread
2 bags of chips (regular and bbq)
1 bag of pretzels
8 regular and 8 diet Cokes
24 bottles of water
2 green peppers
2 heads of lettuce
1 onion
2 tomatoes
3 cucumbers
1 bag of baby carrots
2 sticks of slice-and-bake cookies
and 2 stalks of celery.

We also bought plastic serving and sandwich plates. We spent about 1.5 hrs preparing the food for consumption: chopping, baking, and slicing. All of the food was displayed on the plastic presentation plates, stored in 2.5 galloon ziploc bags and refrigerated.

Note: Even refrigerated, veggies will significantly damage the structure of plastic plates if left sitting overnight. The plates won't be completely limp in the morning, but beware!

I called this morning to make sure that the build was still on. There was some rain in the area all week and I didn't want everything to have been cancelled when I arrived. While I was talking with the site coordinator, I could hear lots of hammers and power tools in the background. It sounded like lots of people doing lots of work. The site coordinator told me that they had "lots of people who were going to be hungry!"

Uh oh! I was worried that our 15-20 person estimate might be completely off. Would I have enough food? Would the people enjoy the food? I got really worried. I made a plan to deliver what I had and then travel back to the store to buy additional supplies if necessary.

All the worrying was for not.

When I arrived several volunteers helped me carry the food to a shady place and several others setup makeshift tables with corkboard and sawhorses.

These people ate like they hadn't seen food in months. It was great. Everyone was thankful for the free food. Several volunteers told me that when food is provided they normally have "bologna on white bread." Several others commented that they loved having cool veggies on a hot day. Everyone loved the water and some were glad to have the sugar of a regular or diet Coke.

I blamed the varied food selection on a girlfriend with peculiar eating habits. I said that she made me aware that not everyone enjoys lunch meat and that there should be a vegeterian option. That's a good lesson for anyone out there preparing food for a large group: everyone eats differently -- be prepared!

Several interesting observations from the day:
1. The wheat bread was gone almost immediately. People reluctantly took the white bread as a second choice.
2. The chocolate chip cookies went quickly and the sugar cookies were almost untouched.
3. People loved the cucumbers but reacted mildly to the green peppers.
4. Only 1 person ate more than one sandwich.
5. People loved having the water available. Few people drank the pop.

I was very glad to be able to help and the volunteers were very thankful for the food. I, however, was doing very little. They were the ones actually pounding, drilling, cutting and building a house for a family. Everyone plays a role in Habitat, but I can tell you that nothing would get done without those doing the physical work!

Hopefully there will be more opportunities for volunteer catering in the future!