Meating The Need

06/24/2024

Meating the Need Update – June 2024

Summer in San Antonio and its HOT! It is no wonder that the homeless in downtown have sought refuge at the Haven for Hope Homeless Shelter for a respite out of the heat. The section of Haven for Hope which serves the homeless still on the streets, the “unhoused” homeless, is called the Prospect’s Courtyard. This is also where the St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen is located. The Prospect’s Courtyard has a large, enclosed, outdoor courtyard in addition to an indoor space which is air-conditioned. During the summer, the outdoor courtyard utilizes a large misting system to cool down the area. Along with a place to come in out of the heat, the Prospect’s Courtyard provides bathroom facilities, showers, a place to wash clothes, a place to store possessions, assistance with medication, identification recovery service, access to a medical clinic, mental health services, dental services, job training and placement services, addiction counseling, and a pathway into permanent housing. Basically, the place has everything you would need to get you up and back on your feet. When you volunteer at St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen regularly, you will notice that there is a definite “turnover” in the homeless population. There is a percentage of hardcore homeless that you see over and over, but for the most part, it is a different crowed from the last time you were there. Hopefully, these people have received the help that they needed to overcome whatever life event put them there and have moved on with their lives.

The St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen plays a critical role in this rehabilitation process. Haven for Hope can’t help anyone unless they can get them in the door. We get them in the door by serving delicious and nutritious meals, hearty enough that no one goes away hungry. That is were Meating The Need comes in. We deliver every other Wednesday and have for the past 17 years. In the two weeks between deliveries, we are providing the main course item for 12 out of 14 nights. Chef Lorris uses what we provide to create incredible meals. While our Meating the Need volunteers are serving dinner, it is not uncommon for our homeless guests to yell in the kitchen door, “that was a great meal” and “thanks for coming down here to serve our meal.”

Our Meating The Need Volunteers were down at the kitchen serving dinner twice in the past six weeks (see photos below). Both nights we fed huge crowds. The second night, we fed 477 homeless guests. As I always say, if you come down to the kitchen to serve dinner, I promise you an enriching experience.

Meating The Need’s last delivery, through our friends at Sysco Foods, was on June 12th. Out next delivery will be this coming Wednesday, June 26th. Here is a list of what you purchased and we delivered:

130 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
200 lbs. Ground Beef
228 Salisbury Steaks
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
500 Polish Sausages
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
40 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
2,560 Beef Meatballs
1,980 Breaded Steak Fingers
70 lbs. Pulled Breast of Chicken
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
6 #10 Cans or 42 LBS Cut Green Beans
2 cases Fruit Punch Mix
Total $5,229.15

Please consider making a donation through our website, www.meatingtheneed.org or by mailing a check to:
Meating the Need
12500 San Pedro Ave. Suite 120
San Antonio, TX 78216

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you,

Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

01/26/2024

Meating The Need Update – January 2024

Last Tuesday night, January 23rd, a team of 400+ volunteers hit the streets across San Antonio spending hours seeking out the homeless to conduct the annual Point In Time (PIT) Count of San Antonio’s homeless population. We can’t know the scope of the problem without a physical head count. The volunteers fanned out across the city to find the various encampments hidden in wooded areas and drainage ditch tunnels, as well as those in downtown. In 2023, the PIT Count found 3,155 people experiencing homelessness in Bexar County, which as a 5% increase over 2022. During 2023, 322 homeless people died in San Antonio, which is roughly 10% of the homeless population. These are sobering numbers. Each one is a life just as precious as our own. San Antonio is ranked as the 3rd poorest city among the ten major cities in the United States, which means that a large portion of our population is only one misfortune (getting sick, losing a job, getting injured or experiencing mental illness) away from losing their home.

The Haven for Hope Homeless Shelter has wraparound services to get people back on their feet, but we have to draw them in first so they can get the help they need. This is why supporting the St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen is so important and Meating The Need is a big part of that “drawing them in.” Chef Lorris uses the high quality meats and fish provided by Meating The Need to build a meal around. The meals are delicious and nutritious with hearty portions. We are currently averaging about 450 plates for an evening meal. Once everyone has been fed, second helpings are served so that no one goes away hungry. The dining room also doubles as a safe place to sleep indoors every night of the year. Out of the cold in the winter and out of the heat in the summer. St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen serves breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days a year.

Our Meating The Need volunteers were down at the kitchen to serve dinner on January 11th. See the photos below. That night we served chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, a green salad with dressing, bread, dessert and iced tea to drink. Meating The Need provided the chicken fried steak, the cream gravy and the iced tea. Please consider going with us to serve dinner in February. I promise an enriching experience. Once you go, you’re hooked.

Meating the Need continues to deliver shipments of food every other Wednesday through our friends at Sysco Foods. Our last delivery was on January 17th. Our next delivery will be January 31st. Here is a list of what you purchased, and we delivered:

130 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
200 lbs. Ground Beef
456 Salisbury Steaks
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
500 Polish Sausages
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
40 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
2,560 Beef Meatballs
1,980 Breaded Steak Fingers
80 lbs. Pulled Breast of Chicken
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
6 #10 Cans or 42 LBS Cut Green Beans
1 case Fruit Punch Drink Mix
Total $5,493.50
Please consider making a donation through our website, www.meatingtheneed.org or by mailing a check to:
Meating the Need
12500 San Pedro Ave. Suite 120
San Antonio, TX 78216

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you,

Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

02/23/2021

Meating the Need Update – February 2021

As many of us have had to deal with the lack of heat and access to water to cook and bathe, I wanted to give you all an update of the amazing job the staff at St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen has been doing during this crisis. They have ensured that the hundreds of homeless men and women still have access to three hot, nutritious meals a day in the Prospects Courtyard of the Haven for Hope shelter no matter what the weather. Starting Sunday night, the Haven for Hope staff literally drove around downtown San Antonio, checking under bridges and in doorways, offering the homeless rides to the Prospects Courtyard where they could sleep indoors and be fed by the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen. The number of homeless staying in the Prospects Courtyard and being served by St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen substantially increased during the crisis.

Starting Sunday night, the St. Vinny’s Bistro staff began sleeping on cots at Haven for Hope so that they would be there in the morning to begin preparing breakfast for all the homeless guests. Thomas, one of our front-line cooks, ran to catch a bus on Sunday evening to get to the shelter because he heard that VIA was stopping all bus service. He slept at the Haven for Hope Sunday night and opened the Bistro at 5:00 am to start preparing breakfast. Charles, another front-line cook, slept at Haven for Hope for 3 nights in a row. If they had not done this, who would be there to prepare meals for the hundreds of waiting to eat? Joshua, another cook, drove the old van to and from the hotel on very icy roads in downtown San Antonio delivering the evening meals to the homeless waiting at the hotel. He also slept at on a cot at Haven for Hope. The entire team was led, of course, by Chef Lorris who, when I talked to him on Friday had yet to sleep in his own bed since Sunday night.

What happens when there is no water? The St. Vinny’s Bistro staff collected rain/snow water to flush toilets, and boiled snow and ice to wash dishes. The St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen does not normally feed Haven for Hope staff but since they had nowhere to eat, Bistro staff prepared breakfast and dinner for 75 Haven for Hope staffers in the Prospects Courtyard, 15 Haven for Hope staff at the Resource Center and 25 Haven for Hope staff at the hotel.
The commitment the St. Vinny’s Bistro staff has shown, led by Chef Lorris, during this city-wide weather crisis has really been nothing less than heroic. It once again shows us all the important role the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen plays in the functioning of our city. Hundreds of homeless would suffer needlessly in the extreme weather without the shelter of the Prospects Courtyard and the breakfasts, lunches, and dinners provided by the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen 365 days a year. Unfortunately, Chef Lorris reported to me that four of the homeless men died of exposure a short distance from Haven of Hope. They were found huddled together behind a convenience store. If only they had spent the night in the Prospects Courtyard.

Meating the Need remains a major supplier of food to St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen. Our next delivery, through our friends at Sysco Foods, is this coming Wednesday, February 24th. Chef Lorris said the guests they serve love the Salisbury steaks and could we please add it to our list. Also, the kitchen could use two more pair of oven mitts. You will see those items added to our list below. Thank you to our financial supporters who make this all possible.

Meating the Need will deliver the following to the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen:

110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
120 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
500 Polish Sausages
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
2,560 Beef Meatballs
60 lbs Pulled Breast of Chicken
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
30 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
152 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
20 oz Seasoned Salt
480 Salisbury Steaks
2 pair Oven Mitts
Total Estimate: $3,526.67

Please consider making a donation through our website, www.meatingtheneed.org or by mailing a check to:
Meating the Need
12500 San Pedro Ave. Suite 120
San Antonio, TX 78216

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you,

Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

09/17/2020

Meating the Need Update – September 2020

And now for some Good News. During the pandemic, the Haven for Hope Prospects Courtyard, where the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen is located, had stopped taking in new homeless guests and capped the amount of people staying in the courtyard at 150 in order to allow for social distancing. The rest of the homeless guests, about 350 mostly with chronic health conditions, were relocated to a vacant Holiday Inn hotel a few miles from Haven for Hope. In order to protect this very vulnerable population from contracting the Corona Virus, they were staying one person to a room. An interesting development has taken place. There has been a significant amount of turn over in the homeless staying in the hotel with folks moving out and into permanent housing. There are several reasons for this but primarily, they are staying in one place instead of wandering in and out of the Haven for Hope courtyard. This allows their contact caseworker, counselors and therapists from Haven for Hope to maintain contact on a regular basis in order to help the homeless person resolve whatever issue has been causing them to be homeless and to find permanent housing. They are usually in their room and all the caseworker has to do is call the room. As the pandemic is easing, Haven for Hope has recently starting admitting new guests and increased the Prospects Courtyard capacity to 200 guests, and soon it will increase to 400 guests. Volunteers are still not permitted to serve in the kitchen yet.

The whole new initiative of housing the homeless in the vacant hotel can’t happen without St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen. Each and every day, the St. Vinny's Bistro kitchen prepares 350 evening meals in to-go packaging and then transports them to the homeless Holiday Inn. Chef Lorris’ team sets up serving tables in the hotel parking lot and then hand out the evening meal and drinks. Chef Lorris is doing double duty in that he also is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week to the homeless staying in Haven for Hope Prospect’s Courtyard. See the photos below of the meals delivered to the hotel from the St. Vinny's Bistro Kitchen using meat provided by Meating the Need.

Last Wednesday, September 9th, you purchased and Meating the Need delivered the following to the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen:

110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
121 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
500 Polish Sausages
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
2,560 Beef Meatballs
300 lbs Pulled Breast of Chicken
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
24 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
152 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
33 oz Seasoned Salt
Total $2,771.87
Meating the Need sausage mixed with pasta and cheese for dinner.

Please consider helping us feed the homeless by making a contribution through our website at:
www.meatingtheneed.org or by sending checks
to:

Meating the Need
12500 San Pedro Ave., Suite 120
San Antonio, TX 78216

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you,
Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

06/12/2020

Meating The Need Update – June 2020
The Coronavirus Edition 2.0


Thanks to your generous donations in recent weeks, Meating the Need has added two more main course items to our regular food shipment to St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen at the Haven for Hope Shelter. Since we deliver every other Wednesday, during that two week period, Meating the Need now provides the main course for 10 of those 14 nights. We just added 10 cases of 50 (500) Polish sausages and 2,560 beef meatballs. After discussing it with Chef Lorris, these items were at his request because of their versatility.

In what can only be described as a miracle according to Chef Lorris, none of the hundreds of homeless guests served by St. Vinny’s are known to have contracted the coronavirus. In order to promote social distancing and protect the most vulnerable, Haven for Hope has been sending people to stay at a Holiday Inn several miles away. St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen is now feeding 310 homeless guests at the hotel and 150 still in the Haven for Home Prospects Courtyard area for a total of 460 evening meals plus breakfast and lunch in the Prospects Courtyard. See the photos below of the meals stacked up to be delivered to the hotel from the St. Vinny’s Bistro Kitchen. The kitchen is also still providing about 200 sack lunches a day for the homeless guests who get up each morning in the Prospects Courtyard and head off to work.
Due to the contagious nature of the virus, Haven for Hope has suspended all volunteer activities, including serving dinner at the kitchen. The fear isn’t that we volunteers may contract the virus from the homeless guests we serve. On the contrary, We may give it to Them.

Our next delivery is this coming Wednesday, June 17th. Here is what you bought and we deliver:

110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
100 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
500 Polish Sausages
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
2,560 Beef Meatballs
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
24 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
30 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
288 oz Lipton Ice Tea Mix
198 oz Seasoned Salt
Total $2,910.61

Please consider helping meet this critical need by making a contribution through our website at: www.meatingtheneed.org or by sending checks to:

Meating the Need
12500 San Pedro Ave., Suite 120
San Antonio, TX 78216

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you,
Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

02/07/2020

Meating The Need Update February 2020
The great thing about San Antonio’s Haven for Hope shelter is that it gives the homeless a “hand up” and not just a “hand out.” Haven for Hope provides all the services the homeless need to get off the streets and back into permanent housing. They offer drug and alcohol treatment, job training, job placement, identity recovery (provides I.D.s), a healthcare clinic, a mailing address, clothing, showers, restrooms, laundry, medication dispensary, haircuts, dental care, bus fare, and sack lunches for the working homeless. St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen provides three meals a day, 365 days a year. That is where we come in. Meating the Need buys the food so no one is ever turned away hungry. In order to help the homeless, we need to draw them in with hot, delicious and nutritious meals.

Our last nights to serve dinner were January 8th & 9th. We served approximately 480 meals each night. (See photos below)
Our latest delivery through our friends at Sysco Foods was last Wednesday, January 29th. Our next delivery will be Wednesday, February 12th. Here is what you bought and we delivered:

110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
100 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
120 lbs. Pulled Chicken
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
30 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
30 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
288 oz Lipton Ice Tea Mix
198 oz Seasoned Salt
Total $2,539.06

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food. Please consider supporting our mission to feed the homeless by donating through our website meatingtheneed.org or mail a check to:
Meating The Need
12500 San Pedro Ave., Suite 120
San Antonio, TX 78216

Thank you for your support!
Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

10/08/2019

Meating The Need Update October 2019
Our last nights to serve dinner at the St. Vinny’s Bistro kitchen at the Haven for Hope Shelter was on September 4th & 5th. As you know, we had record breaking heat and near record breaking crowds of homeless lined up for a hot meal. Below are links to two videos posted on YouTube of our volunteers those nights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaJfD71NFrg&t=24s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVLAcSNlkFc

The night was so moving to one of our regular volunteers, Warren Lieberman, that he express his feelings in a poem after the experience. With his permission, I share it with you now.

The Line is Long

I am assigned a station on the line
With my clean white face
Ready to serve a meal
Cooked hours before
Seven wide my comrade servers stand

A sample meal we make
Place a portion on the tray
Slide it over for
Next self-appointed Saint to repeat
Pasta
Meat patty
Sauce and cheese
Salad topped with a dressing
Bread and
Dessert
Land on a plastic tray
A single plastic fork and napkin
Complete the assembly line
We are ready to feed the incoming
Horde

Heat of the kitchen
At our back
We stand shoulder to shoulder in formation
Soldiers against hunger
To fill trays and bellies
Of troubled people who stood outside
In the sun long before the doors open at five

Singly the multitude shuffle by
Salad man I
Gloved hand places
Salad on the tray
Slide it down to the next spot
Mere inches from me
Dressing, bread, and dessert finish the production
One, two
Three, four, five
Trays fly up and over the counter
The line is long

I glance up from my station
A small woman with wrinkles takes her meal
Followed by man with a dirt stained shirt
Or maybe blood
Young and old
Black, brown, white
All weathered
File through that door
Occasional thank you
All gaze at the meal
Some eagerly, others with anguish
Many with blank expressions
A man with tattoos covering his face
Offers a half wave and nod
Some push walkers
A man with a sling
Fifteen, sixteen
I loose track
The line is long

Heat seeps in with the throng
Each shows a pass
The Shelter needs to count
Each soul served
Is God, St. Pete or some accountant keeping score?
Forty, fifty, and still coming
The line is long

This place is for those
Who have no home to call their own
To rest their head
They sleep under the night sky
I try not to dwell
About their pain
Knowing a hot meal and bed with clean sheets
Waits with AC running for me

Time is slow
The line is long
No pushing or shoving
Nervous laughs and coughs punctuate
The inherent tension
No dressing a man with a limp shouts
Does it make him feel ordinary with his small request?
Or furnish him a piece of dignity?
We answer – no dressing coming up
With enthusiasm
Our bubbly answer masks guilt
I have a full belly
And dream of cheesecake

Our duty is to serve
Not to judge
Why does that guy have a cell phone?
That one is clean-shaven
The next dirty
Each harbors a different reason to be
Shuffling past my view
I try not to look into their eyes
Afraid of what they will reveal
Of me
The line is long

An hour passes
A monitor at the door
Says forty more
The line is long
Clean trays gone
Styrofoam containers finish our production
Careful we say
This tray is cracked
So is the system
We argue about a wall
A hurricane
Stock market returns
Someone’s 401K
What about empty stomachs
Empty lives?

Four hundred and fifty meals today
Good job the Man from St. Vinny proclaims
To some bean counter in heaven
We retreat quietly out the rear door
To our air cooled cars
While those eating linger over their meal
Before they need to find a place to sleep
Under the hot night sky

The line is long.

Our latest delivery through our friends at Sysco Foods was last Wednesday, October 2nd. Our next delivery will be Wednesday, October 16th. Here is what you bought and we delivered:

480 Salisbury Steaks
110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
100 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
120 lbs. Pulled Chicken
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
500 Polish Sausages 3.2 oz
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
30 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
30 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
288 oz Lipton Ice Tea Mix
198 oz Seasoned Salt
Total $2,946.04

Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you for your support!
Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

Meating the Need and its team of volunteers at the St. Vinny's Bistro at the Haven for Home Homeless Shelter in Downtown San Antonio. We served 480 men and w...

10/01/2019

Video from our night serving dinner at St. Vinny's Bistro kitchen in the Haven for Home Homeless Shelter. We served 480 men and women that nigh in September. The main course and tea was supplied by Meating the Need.

Meating the Need and its team of volunteers at the St. Vinny's Bistro at the Haven for Home Homeless Shelter in Downtown San Antonio. We served 480 men and w...

08/30/2019

Meating The Need Update August 2019
It is the dog days of summer and it is hot, hot, hot in San Antonio. Fortunately, the homeless in our city have a place to come out of the heat and into a cool air conditioned space where they are welcomed. That place is, of course, the Prospect’s Courtyard at the Haven for Hope Shelter and our kitchen, St. Vinny’s Bistro. On a wing and a prayer, St. Vinny’s serves the homeless three meals a day, 365 days a year.

The ranks of the homeless in downtown are swelling again. Our team last served dinner two nights in a row at the end of July. We served approximately 470 plates each night. A really large crowd used to be 380 people. Now, the kitchen is pushing close to 500 plates in an average evening meal. The kitchen used to close the door at 6:00 but now is staying open later to handle the larger crowds. Just when the kitchen needs us the most, I unfortunately have had to call Chef Lorris to break the news to him that Meating the Need is having to cut some main course items off our delivery list. You will see from our list of items below that we had to reduce our grocery list from purchasing $3,450 worth of mostly frozen meats every other week to $2,877. To make up the difference, I cut 480 Salisbury Steaks and 96 pounds of Stir Fry Frozen Vegetables which are the main items for two evening meals. Chef Lorris was gracious about it, thanking me for our years of service to the kitchen and how much they depend on and appreciate Meating The Need. I still felt like I was partially pulling the rug out from under him. Our sole purpose is to help supply the main kitchen feeding the homeless in our city. So, what to do?

I am asking our supporters and volunteers to consider making a donation through our website, www.Meatingtheneed.org. Hit the reoccurring button to make it a monthly donation so we can “meat the need” to feed everyone who needs a meal down at the shelter. You can also write a check. Our new mailing address is: 12500 San Pedro Ave., Suite 120, San Antonio, TX 78216. We are in the process of updating our website with the new address. Our ultimate goal is to reach donations of $10,000 a month which would equal a food shipment of $5,000 every two weeks. This would supply the kitchen with the main course for every evening meal and most lunches.

Our latest delivery through our friends at Sysco Foods was Wednesday, August 21st. Our next delivery will be Wednesday, September 4th. Here is what you bought and we delivered:

110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
100 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
120 lbs. Pulled Chicken
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese (for Cheese Enchiladas)
500 Polish Sausages 3.2 oz
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
30 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
30 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
288 oz Lipton Ice Tea Mix
198 oz Seasoned Salt
Total $2,877.64
Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.

Thank you for your support!
Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need
210-577-1949

05/10/2019

05/10/2019

Meating The Need Update May 2019
It is always nice to be appreciated. The last time our team went down to the Haven for Hope Shelter to serve dinner, the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen, called St. Vinny’s Bistro, had created a huge banner with the Meating the Need logo thanking us for our 12 years of service to the kitchen (see photo below). I was shocked when I saw what they had done. Lorris Gibson, the head chef and kitchen manager, has told me many times and reiterated it again that night, “St. Vinny’s cannot feed the hundreds of homeless which it is called on each day without the help of Meating The Need. You just don’t realize how important your food shipments are to what we do down here.” I am, of course, just the front man for our teams of volunteers who come to serve the meals and, most of all, our financial donors who make it possible to buy the food we deliver every other Wednesday for the past 12 years. You are the ones who ensures no one goes hungry on the streets of San Antonio. On behalf of the homeless, we thank YOU.

Our latest delivery of food was this past Wednesday, May 1st. Our next delivery will be Wednesday,
May 15th. Here is what you bought and we delivered:

480 Salisbury Steaks
110 lbs. Po***ck Fish Patties
100 lbs. Ground Beef
1760 Breaded Beef Fingers
480 Beef Patties (4oz)
120 lbs. Pulled Chicken
420 Breaded Chicken Breast Patties
20 lbs. Shredded Cheese
500 Polish Sausages 3.2 oz
480 Chicken Fried Steaks
144 oz. of Cream Gravy Mix
30 lbs. Frozen Cut Green Beans
96 lbs. Frozen Stir Fry Mixed Vegetables
30 gallons Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Drink Mix
288 oz Lipton Ice Tea Mix
198 oz Seasoned Salt
Total $3,450.49 (Our goal is to provide at least $5,000 worth of food every two weeks. Please help us reach this goal!)
Our Board of Directors covers all administrative costs enabling 100% of donations to be used to buy food.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to Meating the Need, you may donate by visiting our website www.meatingtheneed.org. Donations may be one time or set to make a monthly reoccurring donation.
Checks may also be sent to:
Meating the Need
901 NE Loop 410, Suite 300
San Antonio, TX 78209

Thank you,
Gary Ploetz
President of the Board of Directors
Meating the Need