Brown Bag Lady started in March 2014. The idea first came to mind one Christmas morning when my son and I packed up my car and we went downtown Christmas morning, stood on a corner, and we handed out turkey dinners. I didn’t have much money, but I had about $200, which I used to make 70 meals, which included mashed potatoes & gravy, I baked two turkeys, a pot of collard greens, and a biscuit. I looked around and noticed Christmas morning on Skid Row is far different from other neighborhoods. It bothered me all year. The following year, I did the same thing, but asked for my friends to chip in. Christmas 2013, we fed 130 people and also gave away gently worn clothes and shoes that I had been collecting all year long. I couldn’t get those images out of my head. Hence…Brown Bag Lady.

We work strictly from donations, and once a month everyone meets, we make the brown bag lunches, which includes a turkey sandwich, a banana, a bag of chips, a cookie, and a bottle of water. Each month I tape a positive quote to each sandwich bag. People tell me it’s a waste of time and no one will read the quotes. I don’t care what people say.  If just one person gets a little inspiration from reading the quotes, then that’s good enough for me. 


I started off making 100 lunches. It was just me, my son and a few volunteers. We are now up to giving away 200 lunches. I would love to do more, unfortunately, we do not have the resources.

 

I tell the people down on Skid Row every month that I will be back. Each month they tell me I’m going to flake or I won’t show up. I promised them “Come hell or high water, rain or shine, if no one else shows up, I will be here and you will have a lunch!” We haven’t missed a Sunday yet!

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