West LA Burrito Project

Hello friends,

At our last burrito project on October 17th,  we didn’t have any volunteers @ 6:30, and so I had to cancel that burrito project. Our regulars have been slowly trickling away, and we haven’t had much in the way of new volunteers.

To echo what has been said by great people before me, I am also spread pretty thin as of late, and don’t have as much time to dedicate to burrito project. I had originally stepped up as a temporary replacement admin which turned into a semi-permanent role…but it might be my time to step down.

I’d like to keep fighting as long as possible and therefore would like to do at least one more burrito project, on Nov. 7 (to avoid Halloween). We’ll have to scale things down because the people we serve won’t be expecting us (because of the long hiatus), but if I could get just enough volunteers to do a smaller-scale project I would be willing to keep going. If I can’t, with a heavy heart, I’m going to have to let burrito project go.

Given the above, if you think you can assume the responsibilities of continuing what I do on a bimonthly basis, please get in touch with me because the funding and equipment is there to keep things going. It’s been both a pleasure and an honor to do the things we’ve done with the people I’ve met (you guys).

♥ panda.

We’re still alive and fairly well ! Feel free to join us sometime (more info through our Facebook page or sign-up for our email list)!

<3 Panda

Dear Friends,

Over the last two years, I have been honored by the may of you who have joined me in making a change in the world we live in.  I love telling people of our wonderful achievements only to see people react in a mixture of awe and doubt, only to be welcomed into our group with open arms.

Unfortunately, I am spread too thin as of late, and don’t have enough time to dedicate to burrito project any longer.  While starting this project, I have met people I consider life long friends.  I have also had the privilege of seeing so many of my friends start other projects around me, so while our group might not meet in any regular settings, I’m absolutely confident that this won’t be the last time we see one another, hopefully at other projects.

As many of you know, Summer is when burrito project really kicks into high gear.  With my current schedule, I will not be able to deal with the responsibilities required to make burrito project what it is.  So, please join us for the last handful of projects where it all started.

If you think you can asume the responsibilities of continuing what I do on a weekly basis, please get in touch with me and I will be more than happy to donate everything you need, including funding to keep this going.

Allen

HA! we don’t do anything for thanksgiving!  Thats right!  we go out every couple weeks year round and with the rush of people doing great things this thanksgiving, we don’t need to.  Instead we’ll hang out and eileen’s for a potluck!  interested in coming, check out our facebook page.

if you’re interested in helping year round, we’d love to have you, check out the links on the top right of the front page for details and updates.

allen

I think we’re going to test out a new buddy system.  so, name tags are back!  They won’t be “hello my name is”, more likely “mail to:”.  Let me know what you think in the comments!

allen

…we need dem. if you are so fortunate to have extras and were just about to throw them away. bring them to the next bpjkt.

Hi, I’m a spoon type tool of sorts.

Hi, I’m a cutting tool of sorts

Bonjour, I am a french lid. I spend my days writing poetry by the river. If it wasn’t for gravity, I’d be worthless.

jah bless

bina banton

Hey Everyone,

It’s interesting to take a step back and see the difference burrito project has made. Our recipe is unrecognizable from when we started and the faces I see come in are no longer people that come to my house and make food, but people who I know and love.

While I truly enjoy running burrito project, the responsibilities are a little too great for me to handle alone especially with my new work load. I had a blast setting up burrito project, coming up with cheeky emails and making sure everything was ready for each project. For those of you who have been coming for years, you remember the characters that have come through, the stories we’ve told and the people we’ve helped and that will not change, but the time has come for me to pass the torch.

I never really had plans for it to get so big. I’m now the proud owner of enough cooking materials to serve a small army and I look suspiciously into my fridge when I don’t see giant containers of sour cream and tortillas abound. I’ve mentioned in the past that burrito project may be moving from week to week, and that is really what this is about.

For the next 4 weeks at burrito project, with your help I want to come up with a repeatable structure for our burrito project that other projects can copy and use themselves. We’ll then spend 3 months working out kinks to the system and I hope to pass on burrito project to a handful of dedicated people who will take the burrito project to the next step.

I’m definitely going to have a part of the next phase of bpj, I just feel like its time for me to pass it on to someone with more time and dedication to the project. I’ll still be hosting BPJs for the next few months and after that occasionally. If you are interested in taking more of a role in BPj, just come by, we’ll be talking about it casually while we cook. If you can’t make it but you want to get involved, email / fb / text us.

Allen

About a month ago we partnered with the Census Bureau to help with taking a census of the homeless we serve at WLABP. The speedy response and the collaboration from the Census was magnificent.  A large group from the Census came out as promised on March 29, 2010 to Third Street Promenade in SaMo to meet us.

We introduced ourselves to them.   I gave them an overview of our work which they were please and we all got right to it.  Because of the special circumstances, the delivery took a little longer.  As we handed out the burritos, we asked the recipients if they would answer a few questions about the themselves.  Because of privacy laws, we weren’t allowed to ask the questions, but we served as liaisons and successfully had the participation of everyone.

All in all,  the entire night was a success!  Not only did we hand out 93 burritos that night, we had a smaller crew because of Passover, and we took part in “Census 2010!”

Lupe A.

hey people, we want to raise enough funding for burrito project for one year. each week we give out about 50-80 burritos to the hungry in santa monica. we buy everything from scratch and do our best to bring down the cost to almost nothing. our cost for each burrito is about $1.10 or about $100 / project. x52 / year = about $5,000 / year. While we’d love to approach the subject of raising funds every week like some projects do, I’d also love to get this done in a handful of donations. If you know someone who can afford a $100 donation or greater, let me know. That donation goes 100% to paying for food and storage (jars / bags / etc). Ideally someone with the dough will drop $5k and we’ll just stick to making burritos.

alnbna