Chili Mobile
Hosting mobile food outreaches in poverty-stricken areas of Orange County several times a week. The Chili-Mobile (mobile food pantry) provides hot meals, beverages, and bread to thousands of at-risk people. The Chili-Mobile events also provide these homeless and low income families to interact and receive encouragement from the therapy dog teams.
Thanks to generous donations from local Orange County residents and corporate sponsors such as The Waterfront Hilton, Cambro Manufacturing Company and Market Broiler, the His Chaplain For You and Paws For Cause team is able to provide a warm meal to hundreds of people who are either homeless or don‟t have enough money to put food on the table each day.
On a typical evening the team serves up to 120 pounds of chili, 300 cups of coffee and dozens of loaves of fresh bakery bread out of what has become the “Chili-Mobile” vehicle.
The outreach unexpectedly began after a 35-pound chocolate Santa Claus was donated to His Chaplain For You.
The founder, Roy Gerber, was looking for a way to share it with the homeless at Christmas. Gerber said, “I wasn’t really looking for another project, but I made a few phone calls to shelters and hospitals and no one wanted it. So I felt called to ask my friends to donate some chili, bread and coffee to provide a complete meal (with the chocolate Santa as dessert) to the homeless at Christmas.” After nearly 100 homeless and poverty-stricken individuals and families with children showed up for Christmas, Gerber decided to continue the outreach for as long as donors are willing to provide the financial resources and volunteer time.
A regular group of volunteers arrives early in the afternoon to cook chili, make coffee, slice bread and load the truck. When they arrive at the Civic Center area at 5PM, they are always greeted with inviting smiles from the waiting people who are so grateful to receive a warm meal and a hot cup of coffee. Recent nights have brought 100 to 250 people to the dinner. Plans are now underway to expand to three nights per week in Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa.
Donations of cash, canned chili, coffee and other items make this possible. The team welcomes you, your friends, or your family to join them for a night that will have an impact on a homeless person‟s life … and yours!
For more information, please call 714-965-6363 or visit Paws For Cause or His Chaplain For You on their websites at www.pawsforcauseoc.org and www.Hischaplain.org.
Response from the Homeless:
Gerber recounts a response from a homeless man who was in line for the meal. “This man gave one of the volunteers $2 to pay for the meal. When I tried to give it back to him, he said I wish I could give you more – but this is all that I have. We have to keep the blessing going. If everybody would give, we ALL would be okay.‟
Mobile Food Outreach 2010 Budget
