How We Started It

Mission Diary 2010

The My Poor Feat volunteers and board members are never paid for their services and it is understood that everything we do, wherever we do it, is strictly for the homeless, 100%.  This is the essence of "what we do" and "what we are about".

Our Story, or Mission really began on Saturday evenings, as 4:30am Sunday comes early, so a good nights sleep is important because the homeless of Philadelphia count on us.  We have been performing our mission for more than a year now and some of the faces we see recognize us, and count on us to be there for them.

We have two teams of people that start off with a phone call at 5am Sunday morning to the local Dunkin Donuts store for the breakfast sandwich and orange juice orders.  Our portable food ovens are already pre-warming to keep the sandwiches hot while we make our journey into Center City Philadelphia. 

We reach our regular Center city locations, Suburban Station below Love Park, and Broad & Chestnut St below City Hall, about 06:30am, pack up the sandwiches in bags and head into the tunnels.  Some of the homeless are still asleep, especially when it is cold and we have to wake some, others see us and begin to get up to receive one of the 50 + sandwiches and juices we have to give out.  Many days we "run out" before everyone receives food.

Our teams communicate with each other to make sure we have at least two persons to complete the mission. Sometimes this is the night before our mission, or the morning of the mission.  We also gather after performing our mission and debrief.......

"did we have enough food?"

"was there anyone injured or in need of immediate assistance?"

"what can be done better next week/mission?"

The food goes fast, too fast sometimes.  However, when our bags are empty, and our backs are to our fellow brothers, we can hear many "thank you's" and "God Bless you's".  Once in a while we even catch a few smiles as you can see in our photo albums.