Four men, four sack meals on the street

THE INGREDIENTS: What goes into $6 bag lunches

Buying

The food came from Costco; the sakcs and napkins from Safeway. I purchased them, and then did a "menu explosion," estimating what each portion cost based on purchase price, and how that would yield the bottom line for a sack lunch. Here's the breakdown:

MENU EXPLOSION: How I determined the cost for a bag lunch for a homeless person.

This isn't a gourmet lunch, and it's not as healthy a meal as I would like to deliver. But it's quick, and it will be appreciated. Most of the items here were purchased at Costco. The bags and napkins came from Safeway. It would be nice to include a beverage and perhaps a toothbrush and dental floss. I'll work on that.

Making:

Saturday night. The coldest Seattle nights are behind us, for a while. It's 4:30 p.m, and it's dark. I made five lunches, ate one for quality control, and still had enough for two more lunches before I run out of the Cranberry Goat Cheese. It's a filling meal.

Delivery:

This is where it gets interesting. It was dark when I set out and I wondered whether I would find anyone who needed food for the night. Before I had gone 200 yards, however, I heard someone howl in anger. His possessions were scattered on the sidewalk. I cross the street and walked past. I said "hi." No Answer. I asked if he were hungry. He said no. I walked on. He yelled again. Bad prospect.

The guitarist:

Andrew is tall and thin. I could see his table from a block away. It was across the street from QFC on Broadway at Pike, on Capitol Hill.There is an umbrella to protect the keyboard. He was just tuning up when I came by and I did a little dance, which drew a smile. So he was approachable. We talked. He can earn up to $40 a day on spare change by just playing music. He's there all day, every day. He isn't homeless, but he is clearly  under employed. I pulled a sack out of my reusable shopping bag and offered him a meal. And I asked him whether he knew where other people hung out who might not have a roof for the night. He suggested the dumpster near the Comet Tavern around the corner.

The doorway man:

He was bedding down for the night, curled up and he seemed to notice me when I walked by. I stopped to offer him a sack. He appreciated it. It seemed intrusive to start a conversation, so I walked on.

The next doorway man:

Around the corner from the Comet is the Oddfellows Building, which houses the Century Ballroom,  and the Tin Table restaurant, both upstairs, and Molly Moon's ice cream at street level. (Should I offer to buy someone ice cream? Would a street person like ice cream?

A little farther down the street there was a roomy doorway quite inset, and in that doorway a man propped up on blankets and what-not and wrapped up against the cold. His name is Jesse. He had hopes of finding housing in a few days. And until then, yes, he got cold at night. But for $3.50 he could drink coffee all night in the nearby Lost Lake Cafe. All night? You're going to be peeing a lot, I opined. Yes, he said. And he chuckled. The $3.50 for a warm night in the Lost Lake Cafe came from the change people gave him during the day, he said. So, if you were wondering, they don't always drink our spare change.

The backpacker:

Back to Broadway. In less than 30 minutes I was looking for the final person who would want a meal this night. As I circled back toward home, in front of me was a short man kind of curled over and walking with a backpack. I said hi. He said hi. I said he looked like he would like a meal. He said yes. I asked where he was spending the night and he said he was heading toward a shelter whose name I forgot. I wasn't taking notes. I was trying to listen the way we used to listen to each other, without having to write things down to remember. Maybe there was a time like that.

I mentioned that, for $3.50 he could at least drink coffee all night in the Lost Lake Cafe. But he had another way to stay warm at night: For $2.50, he said, he could ride the bus all night.

When I started out on this Odyssey, I thought I would focus on just one meal a day, not four a night. My objective is to budget about $1,000 on food for street people until it's all spent. And to share their stories and their survival tips. (And survival is the word. You don't have to be in the wilderness to be a survivalist.)

I may deliver one more meal before I leave town for a couple weeks. When I'm back, it will be after Christmas, and there will be many more cold nights ahead.

Meals distributed so far: 5

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