[Boba Fettuccini]

So I guess I'll plug my project here.

I came up with this idea in 2003, and I've been doing it ever since. Last year I gave it a name and started working on taking it out of my garage. It's called ZeroApathy. The basic idea is that I'd like to do away with our general day-to-day apathy towards the invisible needy around us - the guys with 'Anything Helps' signs that we inevitability ignore any time of the year that isn't Christmas. Now, it's impossible to stamp out apathy for good, but I like to encourage the idea of purposely seeking an opportunity to put someone in need first.

In cooperation with my local Gospel Mission, I created a special food bag. Each bag is a gallon Ziploc with enough non perishible food for about two days - 2 cup noodles, 4 packets of instant oatmeal, hot choclate, instant coffee, tea, sweetners, hard candies and a handful of energy bars, enough to keep you going - and a pair of socks. Having talked to a lot of the local homeless, one thing they need but rarely are given is clean socks, which can make the difference between a good nights sleep and catching pneumonia or something. So far I've been making these bags on my own and distributing them through my friends, my old boy scout troop, my sister's girl scouts, and my church, but I've been trying to take it online for awhile.

The main problem with these bags is that they're spendy. Each bag only costs a few bucks, but buying everything in bulk is a big chunk outta my paycheck and I don't get many donations. Ideally I'd like to set up a system where I make a bunch of the bags, pack them up, and 'sell' them online. So like, someone could order a box of ten of these to keep in their car for like $30 + shipping. The 'profit' from the money sent would go to buy more materials and keep it going.

If anyone actually read that wall of text and thinks they might be interested, lemme know. As much paypalling and driving around on hunting trips, it seems this would be a natural way to fit a little humanitarian effort into our regular routine.


And these really are effective. I had one guy burst into tears when he saw the socks (and then showed me how bad his socks were), I had a guy take the bag, run off, and come back trailing a woman and they both came over and hugged me - they'd been kicked out of their apartment after he lost his job, and they'd been living in a crappy motel for a few weeks and had been going on o only a meal a day so they could keep a roof over their head. Another guy told me I'd given him one before and I'd probably saved his life. It kinda makes you feel real warm inside, I tell ya.