When the weather is warmer, food goes quicker … even the peppers

When the weather is warmer, the food flies off the shelves. Or in this case, it flies off the tables and out of the plastic bins.

Anna’s Kindness volunteers partnered with Vineyard Church’s homeless ministry to help feed those in need at Liberty Plaza Friday night.

For Skyline High School sophomores Nolan Force and Jake McDevitt, the most difficult part of handing out bottled water and bags may have been letting guests know they could only take one. Even with the rationing, both water and food ran out quickly.

The pizza disappeared quickly as well. Forsythe Middle School eighth graders Sophie Schrag (a recipient of Forsythe’s Annas Kindness Award last year) and Marina Sanchez had to hit the ground running. No sooner was the table set up and the pizza loaded off the church van than the line had formed for pizza. The girls got a crash course in ‘pizza slice distribution’ from the guests (fold two slices in half like a sandwich, wrap them in cellophane, hand them out).

“We had to be fast,” said Marina. The girls went through 25 pizzas in about 30 minutes, due to the large crowd in the plaza.

The treats table — a bonus on Friday night — was also extremely popular. Michelle brought a box of Grandma’s packaged cookies which were snapped up in record time … just a few minutes into the meal service.

The other treats went quickly as well. Forsythe’s Hayley Marchand passed out hard-boiled eggs, chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes, and oatmeal raisin cookies. The treats went so quickly that Hayley was given other food to pass out: Oreo’s, apples, and green peppers (yes, that’s right, and the peppers didn’t last long).

“One man came by and just scooped up a bunch of the eggs,” said Hayley, who noticed that anything portable was popular. For example, the individually packaged cookies ran out almost immediately, while the loose oatmeal raisin cookies lasted longer. At one point in the evening, Hayley’s table had one of the more eclectic mixes of food offerings you may ever seen the Plaza: apples, peppers, hard-boiled eggs, cookies and cupcakes.

Cooper Schrag and his mother Michelle poured drinks for guests. Despite the warmer temps Friday night, you may be surprised at the drink of choice.

“It was the hot chocolate,” said Cooper.

Thanks to Tom Probst and Vineyard Church for allowing Anna’s Kindness to help serve the less fortunate in the community.

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