“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.” — Malcolm X Well it was another wonderful day of service in the city of Vallejo! We wanted to go out with purpose and a message. The purpose being to help and empower, and the message being one of personal growth through change and accountability. Now in theory, it’s a beautiful concept, however in actuality, it is eventually solely up to the individual to change. Change starts from within, because it’ starts with a thought that one must first put into action. Change requires desire and faith, which are qualities that many of our friends possess. We let our friends know that we have faith in them, because we believe in them. But desire and faith are just words, without being followed by action. It’s that simple. Anyway, on to today’s update. Immediately, we saw an increase in the numbers of people we encountered, including children. Our whole team went out to provide lunches, umbrellas, toiletries, hot coffee and cocoa, and much more. In addition, we provided our friends with information about a dental event to be held in Vallejo on March 8 & 9. With our team being at full capacity, I was actually able to spend more time talking more candidly with people on a more one on one basis. It’s was really a great day to be of service, but when is it ever a bad one? 🤔 We also gathered some very good demographic stats pertaining to the gender make up of today’s recipients, numbers of people served, locations visited, so on and so forth. We will continue to collect valuable data to help us better refine our services, and ensure that we are providing what we can, in the best way possible. We have lots of ideas in the works, and we will update y’all with news as it happens. In closing, I always say that “If you judge a book by its cover, you may very well miss out on a very good story!! “❤️🖤💚💛 “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is, contempt prior to examination.” -Herbert Spencer With that said, always remember to tell the ones you love that you love them, before you can’t. Remember to be kind to others! Peace, and May God continue to Bless Us All!!✌🏾🙏🏾 P.S. Thank you to all of our donors, volunteers, and supporters! To date the MLK Humanity Project has served 10,950 sack lunches, homemade meals, hot and cold cereal breakfasts, and family packages throughout the Vallejo area. It is our profound commitment to continue to help those who want to help themselves, and those who unfortunately no longer can! We always like to say that liking us is lovely, but sharing is caring, so help us spread the word!! 🤞🏾🤗 ”SOMETIMES GOD BLESSES OTHERS THROUGH US!!”🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 #ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛 424EVR
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Well how many ways can you say “AWESOME”? I’ve had many wonderful moments in my life, and this one has to rank amongst one of the best! This evening we, my wife and I, were finally able to meet our guitar recipient, Donovan Davidson, and his father. It was a brief exchange, yet it will hopefully leave a lasting impression on this impressive young man. Now I don’t know him, as we just met this evening, however he presented himself with a certain humility that one can only hope to see in all of us, all of the time. Seeing as it had been months in the making, the actual gifting of this donated guitar was priceless to say the least. We hope that it will inspire him to continue practice, play, and perfect his craft, but also to continue to share that gift with others through play or instruction. So join us please in congratulating Donovan Davidson, our first and hopefully not last recipient of some of the wonderful items that we are sometimes blessed to receive from wonderful members of our community. Special thanks to my friend Sherman for the wonderful donation itself, and to both Vanessa Vaughn and Denise Hunter for their guidance and support. Most of all. thank you Donovan Davidson for making such wonderful impressions on the people around you, and for choosing to share your talents with us all! May you have much success in all that you choose to do in life! So as always, remember to tell the ones you love that you love them before you can’t. Always remember to be kind to others. Peace, and May God continue to Bless Us All!! ✌🏾🙏🏾 P.S. If you have unused instruments or like items that are just collecting dust in your attics or basements, we encourage to refurbish them and donate them to your local schools or music programs in your areas, or even to another wonderful young person with a gift and a goal, just like Donovan! We owe it to our youth to provide them with hope and opportunity, whenever we are given the chance! 💯 👊🏾 You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!! ”SOMETIMES GOD BLESSES OTHERS THROUGH US!!”🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 #ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛 424EVR What another beautiful day in the Bay Area!! ❤️🖤💚💛 It’s not a widely known fact, but we often take family packages out to some of our friends. We try to help the homeless, and the working families who are making every dollar count. The family packages are in lieu of the membership and participation in the Sack Lunch Program, however whenever we have extra lunches, we include them in the family packages themselves. Today we will be delivering 2 packages. They are put together based on circumstances, and needs. So no 2 packages are really ever the same, however there are certain staples in each, suck as bread and sandwich making items. From that point, and based on need, we then build the packages. For example, one packages has toiletries in addition to food items, and it’s for our family that is actually without an actual standard residence. In contrast, for our other family, which is a young mother and her daughter, we provide just food. She uses our services less frequently, because she works. Therefore, this time food is the main focus. Anyway, that’s the long and short of it. We are capable of doing 4 family packages a week, and our often faced with having to prioritize. Eventually, we would like to help 10 families on a monthly basis, and 5 on a weekly basis. Those 5 will usually be our friends who live out in the streets, and the 10 would be low income families that could just use a little extra relief. Well we hope that helps give some insight into other aspects of our organization, and we will certainly keep you updated on the progress of our Family Package Program! So with that said Peace, and May God continue to Bless UsAll!! ✌🏾🙏🏾
#ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛 424EVR We hope you’re all well, and having a wonderfully blessed day! I hope you take a few minutes to read this post in its entirety. In my line of work, bartending, I’m blessed to meet all kinds of people, from every corner of the world, especially since I work in San Francisco! However, as great as that is, the connection I, no we, my wife, our team members, and myself make with the beautiful, yet embattled souls we serve every week in Vallejo, is far superior indeed. Even though it can be a trying endeavor at times, the rewards of trying to help those in need, far outweigh any negative incidents that might occur, from time to time. Today was a considerably magnificent day, because it was the culmination of so many great things that occurred during the week. Please allow me to share!
Last Saturday while we were out doing the Sack Lunch Program, our friend David contacted us to inform us the he was dropping of a donation of socks, and that they would be left on our front porch. As we returned home, we collected the socks, and we made a decision to make sure we would give everyone we encountered, a nice dry pair of socks and a disposable poncho for the run today. Shortly thereafter, I received a message from a friend in Texas named Paul, who said he felt inspired by us, so he was sending another donation socks to us, and that we could pick them up this week from a local market, so we chose to pick them up on Wednesday. Well Wednesday had rolled around and it was a particularly rainy day, so much so that my feet were soaking wet, along with my shoes, socks, and everything else I had on. You see, I didn’t have my umbrella, and I immediately thought of the miserable conditions our friends were being forced to contend with. Well wouldn’t you know that another angel emerged the very next day, with an amazing offer to donate umbrellas to us. After working out the details, my wife made the trip to Fairfield to retrieve the umbrellas. Much to her surprise, and eventually mine, the umbrellas turned out to be really nice, and not the small travel kind that we were expecting! Thanks Gurinder, because just like Paul and David, you came thru in the clutch, as do all of our donors. What makes this all so special, is the fact that Wednesday I was prepared to go to work to earn the money for the disposal ponchos, but the weather caused a power outage, and we were forced to close. We were suddenly faced with a budget issue, and just like that, we weren’t. Call it a miracle, or karma, in the end, we all know what’s up! 😇🙏🏾😉 The best part of it all, was seeing our friends faces, knowing that in addition to the socks, they were getting an umbrella that was very needed, but just as important, it was nice and it was new! Believe me when I say it does wonders for the psyche. We know that it’s not the best case scenario when combating the rain, but it’s hopefully not as bad as it was! 🙏🏾🤞🏾 Anyway, the rain pretty much held off til we were done with the Sack Lunch Program today, which is just another thing we will add to the gratitude column!! ❤️ It is truly a blessing to be able to work with others, to help others, and all you need is one sip of that koolaid, and I guarantee you, it’s a wrap!! 😉 In closing, we hope your evening is filled making memorable moments, and not just memories. Enjoy what you have with who you love, while you have time to do so. We’re all just one bad break, or poor choice from hard times, just ask our friends!! With that said, always remember to be kind to others, Peace, and May God continue to Bless Us All!! ✌🏾🙏🏾 P.S. To date the MLK Humanity Project has served 10,850 meals, including sack lunches, hot homemade meals, hot and cold cereal breakfasts, and family throughout the Vallejo area. It is our profound commitment to continue to help those who want to help themselves, and those who unfortunately no longer can!! 😌 We also want to thank all of our awesome donors, past, present, and future! We know we can’t do this without the support of others. As we like to say, liking us is lovely, but “sharing is caring”, so please help us spread the word!! 🙏🏾🤞🏾🤗 You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. #ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛 424EVR We hope this day has found y’all doing well, or at least as well as can be expected. I truly hope you will read this post in its entirety. Admittedly, we usually give an update on our Sack Lunch Program the same day, however yesterday I had a crisis of conscience. So speaking only for myself, I started to have some doubts about our mission. I began to wonder if we have reached a point at which empathy has turned into enabling. I only say this, because we frequently encounter people who tend to forget or act as if they are the only ones in need, and instead of asking for what they need, they ask for what they see. For example, we take out clothing, and we try to spread the love to everyone on our route. We started our Family and Friends Program to address this very issue, because it allows us to track what we disburse, to who we disbursed it to, and when. So basically, I know if we’ve given you a jacket, and knowing this allows us to prioritize distribution of certain items more evenly. Basically, we can’t give the same person a jacket 2 weeks in a row, regardless of the reason, if there’s someone right there who we know has yet to receive one. It’s not perfect, but I hope you get the point. In addition, we are trying to ensure that we give everyone we encounter a lunch, and for the participants in the Family & Friends Program, we have extra sandwiches, waters, and snacks items available, if they want more. We do this to discourage people from feeling the need to be deceitful, just because they want more food. “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed.” We’re not here to say “No”, but that doesn’t guarantee an automatic “Yes” to every request. Well yesterday was especially trying from the beginning, because it’s cold and it’s just damn near impossible to tell people “No” in the rain and cold. So I am learning, and it’s a continuous education to say the least, but I also realize you have to weigh the negatives with the positives. Well while we were at the library, an early stop in our run, I saw Mike again, and his presence reminded me of why we deal with the extra issues. You see Mike is a veteran, and if anything, there shouldn’t be any homeless veterans or children for so many reasons. When I saw Mike, who is a program participant, I offered him everything including his Blessing Bag( toiletries bag), he was thankful and said as much. But here’s the kicker, MIKE the HOMELESS VETERAN 🇺🇸reached in his bag, grabbed his Blessing Bag and handed it back to me. He said he had been blessed with toiletries, and that it needed to go to someone who needed it more. He then shook my hand and thanked me for my work. ”WOW!!” I immediately said, “I can only do what I do, because veterans such as yourself have fought and served to protect our freedoms to choose. I chose to do this Mike, it’s in my heart.” Then he gave me a hug!! A moment worthy of joyful tears. Just beautiful and reaffirming!! ❤️✊🏾✊🏼✊🏻🇺🇸 Mike, and others like Mike are why we will continue to work with everyone, including our friends who haven’t really grasped the idea that, we are gonna keep coming back every week, with the hopes of doing more and more to help them pull out of their circumstances, and eventually doing so on a daily basis. Facility one day!!🤞🏾So thanks Mike, because I spent all night figuring out how to get better at what we’re trying to accomplish, and you’ve shown me the value of staying the course!! We love all of our friends, and sometimes we must love them in spite of themselves, because that’s how my family loved and supported me in my time of personal peril, and you see where it’s gotten me!! ❤️🖤💚💛 Always give out, before you give up, especially if it’s family!! 🤗 So with that said, if you know what you’re doing is right, because it feels right, don’t lose faith, stay the course, and at some point you too will meet your metaphorical Mike and get your positive reaffirmation. When you do, you’ll know it, but what you do from that point on, is entirely up to you. As for me, rather us, we’ll see y’all in the streets next week “My Friends!” 😉 Well that’s all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families and friends. Please keep in mind that the homeless situation is bad and getting worse. We promise to do what we can, and we are ever mindful of not making a bad situation worse. Just know that it should never be acceptable to have Veterans being homeless, period. If there are any issues, from financial to mental, even criminal in some cases, they should all be addressed, because that’s who we are as a nation. And since we’re not doing our best, we need to step up our game to meet the challenge. Let’s stand up for our veterans who have laid the lives on the line for us back here at home. It’s the right thing to do, because it’s the only thing to do! So Peace , and May God continue to Bless Us All!!✌🏾🙏🏾 “HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!!” P.S. To date the MLK Humanity Project has served 10,730 sack lunches, homemade meals, hot and cold cereal breakfasts, and family packages throughout the Vallejo area. It is our profound commitment to continue to help those who want to help themselves, and those who unfortunately no longer can!! Thanks to all of our donors, volunteers, and supporters! We will continue to do what we can as long as we can, but we need your support. At the very least, we ask that you help us spread our message of love and kindness. Like we say, “Liking us is lovely, but sharing is caring, so help us spread the word!”🙏🏾🤞🏾 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. “SOMETIMES GOD BLESSES OTHERS THROUGH US!”🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 #ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛 424EVR “I love you more!” That’s what this gentleman told me after I told him, “I love you brother!!”, and as we gave him the last lunch. You couldn’t ask for anything more! As we set out today under the threat of rain, we weren’t too sure about how many people we would encounter, because in addition to the weather, it’s also the beginning of the month. However, we saw a lot of familiar faces and many new ones. This has been a trend as of late, with regards to the many new faces. Thankfully, the weather never got worse than a drizzle, and the entire operation went smoothly enough to finish in a mere 2 hours. (Usually it’s at least 3 1/2-4) Some of our old friends spoke of donating, and one, our friend Vic, actually did donate $10!! 🤗 Furthermore, we also got to check in with our friend Bryce, for whom we were able to help get a bike, due to the financial generosity of our donors. All in all, it was a great day of giving and receiving love!! ❤️🖤💚💛 A tribute to the concept I’ve dubbed the “Art of Reciprocity”. We hope that today is a wonderful day for not only our friends, but for you as well, because we have right here and right now to make significant changes or even efforts to make changes, because tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us. Cherish the moment while you can!! Well other than that, unfortunately one of our signs came up missing, and I’m thinking it blew off! 🙄 So if you happen upon a big MLK HUMANITY PROJECT sign, please contact us and we will be more than happy to come retrieve it from you. If not, oh well, it’s a small to price to pay in the big scheme of things!! So on that note, please remember to tell the ones you love that you love them, before you can’t! Always try to be kind to others!! Peace, and May God continue to Bless Us All!! ✌🏾🙏🏾
P.S. To date the MLK Humanity Project has served 10,610 sack lunches, homemade meals, hot and cold cereal breakfasts, and family packages throughout the Vallejo area! It is our profound commitment to continue to help those who want to help themselves, and those who unfortunately no longer can!! ❤️ P.S.S. As always thank you to all of our donors, both past and present. We are always accepting the generosity it takes to keep us doing what we do. So remember that liking us is lovely, but sharing is caring, so please help us spread the word.🤞🏾You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram!😉 HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!! ✊🏾 “SOMETIMES GOD BLESSES OTHERS THROUGH US !!”🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 #ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛 424EVR Greetings, We will be announcing the name of a very special young person, by all accounts, to whom we will be gifting a donated, re-tuned and restrung, electric Yamaha guitar. In addition we will be providing a new starter amplifier and cable! Post-2/1/2019 STAY TUNED! Post- 2/4/2019 Well it’s been a long time coming, but the moment has finally arrived for us to announce the recipient of this wonderful electric Yamaha guitar and amp. It has been a collaborative effort in every way, from receiving the guitar and getting it up to snuff, to actually finding someone to gift it to. Well in the end, one name came up more than a few times, so that’s who we ultimately decided to go with. So with that being said, it’s our distinct pleasure to announce that DONOVAN DAVIDSON of Vallejo, this guitar is yours, if you should so choose to accept it. We about love for guitars, his eagerness to not only practice every chance he has gets, and most importantly his willingness to teach others how to play. Above all else, it was his desire to help others grow, that made this decision an easy one. So to the parents of DONOVAN DAVIDSON and of course the young man himself, please contact us and we will work out the details of the exchange. (The when and where) We are also asking the Vallejo community that if you know of Donovan and his parents, please let he and them know that we have this guitar for him, as we have never met him before. This is totally being done sight unseen, based on the character references provided by very credible individuals who work tirelessly to help keep our youth moving forward in a positive and productive manner! So once again, if you know of and can reach DONOVAN DAVIDSON, please let him and his parents/guardian know that we would like to meet them and gift him this guitar! To say the least, we are super excited to see this through!! 🤗Other than that, have a wonderful day, Peace, and May God continue to Bless Us All!! ✌🏾🙏🏾 P.S. If you have old instruments or things of that nature that are not being utilized by you, such as this guitar, we urge you to donate it to someone or an entity that can get as much joy out of it as you did. Pay it forward, and watch the positive karma come back to you tenfold!! ❤️🖤💚💛 P.S.S. Should we not hear from Donovan by this time next week, we do have another individual in mind, and will make that announcement if necessary. 🤞🏾 “SOMETIMES GOD BLESSES OTHERS THROUGH US !!”🙏🏾 #ONELOVE❤️✊🏾🖤✊🏼💚✊🏻💛🙏🏾 🙏🏾 424EVR |
AuthorThe MLK Humanity Project is an inclusive community organization devoted to the well being and empowerment of our homeless and less fortunate residents. Archives
December 2022
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