It has been humbling to hear from so many of you that are showing a genuine interest and a willingness to help us. Our goal is to help all of Gods children, not just “children”. In the past Care for the Children has provided 30 million meals to children in third world countries. Now we want to turn our attention to help families right here in our own backyard.

All sorts of “disasters” hit close to home every day. We don’t feel it is our job to judge each ones tragedy. Each one of us deal with calamities differently. Among so much sorrow is so much joy. Our lives are full of blessings if we just have eyes to see. We want to be a blessing to all those around us.

As we have delved into this project the amount of food is staggering. Especially given that it is food that would otherwise have gone to waste. We have been introduced to people with more knowledge in processing mass amounts of food and people with the same passion to help people and stop wasting food.
I have been contacted by a number of folks that have volunteered to help. Believe me when I say as soon as I know to what, when and how I will get the word out.

So we will have to change the name of our program that we used last year to gather food. We don’t have a definite name as of yet, so I am open to any and all suggestions. What would YOU call a program to gather millions of pounds of food, distributing it to needy families by working together?

Things are really beginning to ramp up. I have been introduced to a gentleman from the board of Care for the Children by the name of Fred Bohman. Fred has already started making calls on my behalf to get us a building, equipment, funding and more. He believes in what we are doing and is adding to our mission as we speak.

We met this week with another Non-Profit to come up with a solution to process over flow of fresh produce they have to turn away. They don’t process any of the food that they receive. They don’t have the equipment or process to do it.

At the end of the meeting Fred turned to Jim, the gentleman we had been meeting with and asked “So how much food should we expect to receive?” Jim answered “We have no idea because of the daily calls we get, but last year we turned away six million pounds of fresh produce“.

Needless to say my jaw almost hit the floor. I have always said this program is as big as we are willing to take on. I have to admit though, I felt like the chief of police in JAWS in that scene were he’s throwing the chum out of the back of the boat and he sees Jaws for the first time.

“I think we are going to need a bigger boat”!

It looks like our “Headquarters” is going to be in the Provo area. Nothing concrete yet, but that is the direction we are leaning. 2010 is looking like a great year to bless many, many hungry families with fresh fruits and vegetables.

God Bless
Lee J. Bradshaw
Now, Go do some thing good!
Thank you for all the support and kind words that have been sent to me privately. They mean a lot to me and I apologize for not getting back to each of you in a timely manner.

This is a very good talk. We all need to think about where our food is coming from and what nutrients are really in them. We also need to think about how hard it is to get REAL nutritious food even if money isn’t an issue, and how we are going to help our fellow human beings get the good stuff. I do not believe it is the governments job to provide another program. I do believe that we are supposed to be our brothers keeper.

If you’ve ever seen a bucket of live crabs it is a very interesting sight. Just as one has almost made his escape all the other crabs pull him back in. As I see things our only choice in this life is to work together. We need to help each other out of this puzzle and cheer for our fellow man, as if he has caught the last second touch down pass,  when he is making his escape from the status qoe. Now I know I am going to take some flack from my friends in the corporate world for this. I was as competitive as they come, but this is my passion now. I have seen the errors of my selfish thinking. I hope that it isn’t to late. We all need to learn to work together!  Now if you watch this video and read the coments you might see some who discredit this talk because Mr. Bittman isn’t VEGAN enough. I’m not a vegan either but Mark’s points are very good ones. I also believe in an individuals agency to make up his or her own mind.  We all need to stop acting like a bunch of crabs in a bucket.

Over and over again I am asked “aren’t you afraid that you will come up short, or lacking, in this endeavor” or “is this project to big” or the one word question “Why”? Every time someone asked me this I am reminded of my favorite saying, this is such a good quote President Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black President, used it in his Inaugural speech. Here it is…

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and
fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.

By Marianne Williamson

Next week we have more visits with Mayors. A very important appointment with a lady that specializes in valuation’s of non-profits. After our meeting with her I expect my need to be slimmer. Good things are happening. As I said before God is good!

I am currently working on two grants that would help us find and be able to process a huge amount of food. Even though we are applying for these grants we still need private help with all kinds of donations. As well as fresh fruit and vegetables we need canning supplies, gardening tools, ladders and labor. We also need financial assistance from private sources. Personally my family invested $8,000 last year and hundreds of man hours. We are just as committed to make this this year a success but we need your help more than ever to meet our goal of collecting 500,000 lbs of food this year. We are a 501 (c) 3 corporation so all donations are tax deductible so  please help.

Have you heard of the “dirty dozen”? They are the fruits and vegetables that test highest for pesticide sprays. Top of the list is Peaches. My suggestion is to plant a peach tree! I have three. Here are the others in the top 12 to buy organic or grow yourself, whenever possible:

Peaches                                 Cherries

Apples                                   Kale

Bell Peppers                        Lettuce

Celery                                  Grapes

Nectarines                          Carrots

Strawberries                       Pears

Spinach has moved down on the list, out of the to 12, which is nice. sometimes I get taken to task by those who buy ONLY organic produce for not being a purist on the topic.

Here is what I have to say about that: if you can afford to buy all organic, that is EXCELLENT! Go for it. But I am above all trying to bridge the gap here for the majority in the middle, who have to balance health concerns with budget restraints. I always say, remember  (a) that animal protein and proccessed food have higher pesticide concentrations than conventioal produce, and (b) almost all the studies documenting the powerful effects of fruits/vegs in our diets were using CONVENTIONAL produce. Therefore (c) don’t avoid eating produce ( and eat something else) because you are afraid it may it may not be organic, but (d) wash your conventional produce well using a good fruit/veg wash.

Here is the bottom 13 of the produce ranked by the Environment Working Group examining 87,000 studies by the FDA and USDA between 2000 and 2007. These would be produce I would feel more comfortable about buying conventional and washing well:

Broccoli                     Sweet peas (frozen)

Watermelon             Papaya

Eggplant                  Cabbage

Kiwi                          Asparagus

Mango                     Pineapple

Avocado                 Corn

Onions                   Tomatos

May I make another summertime suggestion: before you cot up your melon, rinse the rind before cutting it up, because the knife slices through the pesticide-coated rind, and those chemicals end up on your fruit.