DarrenBarefoot.com

I agree, I’m more likely to give change to someone who’s doing something — even the bum that holds the door at my bank is worth a little, and when I drove a vehicle that had windows, I would frequently throw some change at the window washers too. (Although if I say no, don’t touch my goddamned windows, bitch! You’re likely to get a squirt of my wiper fluid if you touch my car without permission.)

I remember being on the skytrain once, and a reasonably nicely dressed man got on and played the violin for a stop. Now, what he was doing was totally illegal (you can’t busk on translink property without a permit, and translink doesn’t give permits to busk ON the trains) … however, it was really pretty. I wasn’t planning on giving him any money until the jackass sitting across from me muttered (loudly) to “get a job, asshole”.

That annoyed me enough that I very specifically got up, and in plain view of the real asshole, handed the violinist (violiner? violinite?) a toonie.

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I once gave a pregnant homeless woman some food instead of her requested cash. Albeit small, it was a significant personal hit; fresh cake from a coffee house. I hope that she appreciated the cake and ate it to keep herself nourished, but who knows. I’m guessing that most homeless take the free food a shelter can provide, but still beg for money because it gets them things that the shelter *won’t* provide.

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If you are looking to support a charity, consider donating to Quest Outreach Society. (Disclaimer: I have done some contract work for them.) They redirect surplus food to the needy, instead of sending it to landfills. They warehouse, sort and cull the food, then process it. They run a meal kitchen on the Downtown Eastside and supply food to most of the meal kitchens in the Lower Mainland. Through a new food processing plant, Quest processes food so that it can have a stable supply of nutritious food year-round. (For example, there’s no rush to get rid of apples in October if you can make apple sauce and freeze or can it.)

Small Potatoes, Safeway, Uprising Breads, and many, many other food distributors and manufacturers donate their surplus food to Quest. This is often because the potatoes are too small, the bread is about to go stale, the tomatoes aren’t selling, etc. These companies used to throw the food away. Now Quest picks it up and warehouses it.

Unlike the Food Bank, Quest does not buy food. So each $1 you donate to Quest helps deliver $10 worth of food to needy people. This is even better than the deals the Food Bank gets, because Quest gets the food for free. Quest also runs an emergency food bank, but its main focus is on redistributing food to dozens of organizations around town. A small donation to Quest has a big impact around the community.

Quest also runs training programs to help underprivileged people develop job skills. Through my contract with Quest, I helped develop training programs for warehouse workers, shipper/receivers, truck drivers, food processing workers, cooks, and administrative staff. There is also a volunteer program to help people develop skills when they are not quite job-ready. Volunteers earn credits that they can use to “shop” in the warehouse.

You can visit Quest at http://www.questoutreach.org. When you donate $1 to Quest, you’re helping to deliver $12 in food, provide a job, create training opportunities, and support organizations throughout the Lower Mainland.

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