Bar-B-Que for 1,000

Today Stubb's Bar-B-Q sauces and marinades (http://www.stubbsbbq.com/ ) came to Union Rescue Mission and put on one heck of a lunch for 1,000 folks.

These Stubb's folks are the real deal.  On the back of a business card there is information on a program they run called "Feed the World".   On their website they have an area that talks about this.  The link is:

http://www.stubbsbbq.com/ftw_help.php

I talked with a number of their crew that came in from Texas including their President Kurt Koegler.  Terrific folks.  They brought everything; all the food, supplies, cooked it all and served it themselves as well.  Talk about a turn key BBQ meal!

Alex Cornejo, the head man of the Volunteer arm of http://www.urm.org/ gave me a little insight as to what was going to happen in a small audio clip.  http://guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/audio/alex101310.wma

I will post a few cell phone shots of the activity today.  Next time I go down to http://www.urm.org/ I will bring one of my better cameras to augment my cell phone camera.

Some of these shots are from Andy Bales, the CEO of Union Rescue Mission.  I will note his shots with a bit of commentary.

The above shot was from Andy Bales.  He and I often swap food shots on twitter or facebook.  Andy is @abales on twitter if you wish to find the guy or attempt to keep up with the man.

One of my shots of Andy Bales in the blue shirt.  The man never stops.  He ate his lunch in under three minutes and jumped on his phone to answer emails, send info out to many folks and attend to the business of the day.

When one talks BBQ one thinks of meat.  My task started with pickles.

This is less than 1/3 of the pickle jars we emptied into serving trays to serve lunch for over 1,000 folks. I opened most of the jars with my bare hands. I was glad there were not too many more jars than what was on hand.



Other folks had different tasks such as BBQ beans for 1,000

Here is the guy that made it happen, the President of Stubb's Bar-B-Q Kurt Koegler.  He brought his crew to Los Angeles from Austin Texas. 

Make no mistake.  This trip to Los Angeles was anything but a one shot deal.  They have done a bit of this before and have more to do in the future.  Their "tour" schedule is just as agressive as any of the artists I work with AND what they do seems to be a lot more work than a typical set at a typical concert.  Like I said, they supplied it all from plates to drinks, prepared, cooked and served.

Their tour can be seen at http://www.stubbsbbq.com/ftw_tour_schedule.php

The above two shots are from Andy Bales of Union Rescue Mission

Alex Cornejo - the head man of the Volunteer arm of http://www.urm.org/ getting ready for a great lunch.

Pudding for 1,000 - just the start of the pudding stock on hand.

Buns for the first few sandwiches.  There were mountains of buns. 

The cellophane bags the buns came in when empty quickly filled an industrial trashcan.  This was about fifteen minutes into the first lunch shift.

Somebody had to try the first sandwich.  This task was Andy Olivas? (not sure of the last name or spelling).  Andy works with Alex Cornejo in the Volunteer Division at http://www.urm.org/.  If you want to volunteer drop Alex note or hit the page at http://www.urm.org/get-involved/volunteer-center/  You can also find Alex on twitter at @urmvolunteers

Some folks took front scene shots.  I took this behind the scenes shot.

At the end of the first shift of lunch the folks from Stubb's took a few moments to eat themselves before the next wave of people came into the dining area.

 

The shots below are from the folks at Stubb's Bar-B-Q.  They were copied from their facebook page and show a different perspective than my own shots above.

Side note - Jennifer in the center of the above photo showed me the ropes today.

There is even more .....

It was pretty amazing what the Stubb's folks and their sauce could do to canned beans.  Maybe a bit of a secret mix on the beans but there were at least three different kinds before they started to work their own magic.

Two terrific folks

More terrific folks. 

A bit of side information.  Union Rescue Mission serves three meals on each shift; breakfast, lunch and dinner.  As an example, there were four lunches served today.  One was at 11am for a smaller group to get things rolling.  Families are served from 12:00 to 12:30.  Single women are served from 12:35 to 1:05.  Single men are served from 2:00 to 2:35pm.  The same thing happens at breakfast and dinner.

 

OK.  I guess I am on something of a roll now.  Folks who know me KNOW how I feel about statistics and numbers.  When I look at the numbers URM blows me away.  When I see what sort of meal they put on a table of $1.84 that blows me away.  When I see Andy Bales push a water cart that weighs 3/4 of a ton in 113 degree heat that blows me away.

 

Here are a few points from last month.

 

Key September 2010 Stats (Compared to September 2009 in some cases below)

Total Dental Clinic Visits = 617 (yes, they have a dental clinic staffed by USC nonetheless)
Total Legal Clinic Visits = 61 (not sure of who does this but I can find out)
Total Mental Health/Counseling Sessions = 45 (not sure of who does this but I can find out)
Total Medical Visits = 723 (USC)

Volunteer: (URM only… HG currently not available) Hours – 2505  Visits – 665
I posted a link earlier if you want to help but here it is again if you don't want to look back:
http://www.urm.org/get-involved/volunteer-center/

As a side note on helping at Union Rescue Mission:  If you want to volunteer and give me a day or two notice I will be happy to go with you, work with you and escort you to URM.  If you are a musician who has some kind of tube amp I will check it out at no charge, test the tubes at no charge and arrange a tour of what some folks feel is one of the finest amplifier companies today.  If you do not play guitar no worries.  I will take you and any size group on walking tour of Los Angeles.  Don't like to walk?  Do you like to shoot?  If you want to shoot stuff that moves I will take you to shoot sporting clays.  Bottom line - do something for http://www.urm.org/ and I will be happy to do something nice for you.

Back to the fun stuff ... stats and numbers.
Each day, we served an average of 3,185 meals.
Total September Meals: 95,545
avg/day: 3,185 (4% increase)
Nights of Shelter:
URM: 22,140 avg: 738/night
HG: 3,087 avg: 103/night
Total: 25,227 avg: 841 /night

Kids:
Hope Gardens 1546 avg 52 /night
URM 2265 avg 76/night
Total 3811 avg 127/night

Families:
Hope Gardens 791 avg 26 /night
URM 1299 avg 43 /night
Total 2090 avg 70/night (40% increase)

Some of you have seen the stories I have published on the economy and how the homeless population has increased dramatically.  Families have been hit particularly hard.

URM:  We served an average of 841 people per night between URM downtown and Hope Gardens , with 128 of those being children. Included is an average of 70 families per night.

URM:  Out of the families, an average of 13 are either 2-parent or single father families.

This is a decent start to this blog entry.  As I receive more photos from other folks that took some I will update this post.



Myles Rose is the founder of Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting which provides support services and training for touring bands and individuals as well as blueprinting services.   I offer consulting services to various amplifier designers and manufacturers.  The link www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com has links to music industry forums which I moderate and direct email contact information.  My shop is located in the complex at www.65amps.com.  If you wish a tour of 65 Amps please feel free to contact me directly.  When I am not doing something related to music I do what I can to support the homeless of Los Angeles either directly on the streets at night or through my good friends at Union Rescue Mission - www.urm.org