The Soup Odyssey Project: December 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Keeping warm...

In addition to soup, we've been working on a prototype of an Improved Cook Stove - or ICS - to supply to homeless people in the Detroit area. Such a stove can use multiple fuel sources (cardboard, wood, charcoal) and can be used both for cooking and limited space heating.

Our ICS is directly based on the VITA stove designed by Samuel Baldwin back in the 80s, with the addition of a perlite-insulated double wall. This stove is designed specifically for charcoal and thus does not have the usual side-opening firebox of the VITA or the Rocket Stove with which it also shares design elements.

Today we were able to deliver our first prototype stove to one of our long-time friends named Russ. Russ has been on the streets for about five years and is currently squatting in his brother's foreclosed home near Moross the I-94 service drive. The house has no utility service and only a few intact windows, so it's particularly cold inside at this time of the year.

Russ will try the stove tonight and let us know his results tomorrow. We've asked him to note any difficulties in using the stove or improvements that he might suggest. We'll see what he has to say tomorrow!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Update on updates

Recently someone made the comment that my Soup Odyssey updates seemed a bit self-aggrandizing. While this was certainly not my intention - and I am not convinced that my posts impressed anyone else this way - the comment was made by someone very close to me and has provoked significant introspection.

As a result, the Soup Odyssey blog will no longer be a blow-by-blow log of activities but will instead try to tell the stories of those whom I have had the honour of knowing and helping on the streets.

Stay tuned for the first such story in the coming week....

Introduction

What is the Soup Odyssey Project?

Our plan is to make a large stock pot of soup, then take it down into the most ravaged parts of the city to feed the hungry. We will set up a folding table on a sidewalk (most likely in front of an abandoned house), set up our propane tank and turkey-fryer burner with the stock pot on top, and serve bowls of soup until we run out.

Why is it called “Soup Odyssey”?

An odyssey is a long and often dangerous journey – and we think that this describes the life of the poor and downtrodden in American cities today. While relief agencies reach out all across the world, most Americans drive right past hungry people every day, never bothering to notice their needy brothers and sisters who live just up the embankment from the freeway.

We plan to change this – to not only make a substantive impact on the lives of the poor each and every day by providing a hot, healthy meal, but also by challenging the consciences of middle class Americans.

As we like to say, “Life is a journey on which no one should go with an empty stomach.”

Aren't most of these homeless people drug addicts anyway?

In our experience, yes, many homeless people do have some sort of substance abuse problem. A drug habit is often what got them into this predicament in the first place – addiction may have caused them to lose a job and then their home. It might have precipitated a divorce or caused a child to be thrown out of the parents' home. And now that same addiction is the chain which binds them to a life of hardship and despair.

Many addicts on the street have no identification and so cannot get help from shelters (almost all require valid state-issued ID). The money that they beg on street corners each day goes toward their habit and little is left over for food. These are some of the people whom we plan to feed each day.

But aren't you just supporting their habits by giving them free food?

We don't hand out money; we hand out soup. As far as we know, there is no established “soup economy” amongst drug dealers. We are not concerned that our activities will in any way directly support someone's drug habit.

Some might argue that providing free food will allow drug addicts to spend their money on more drugs. The simple fact is that addicts will spend their money on drugs anyway, whether or not they have enough left over to eat.

Our goal is to feed the hungry, not judge the junkies.

The Soup Odyssey Project

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Keeping warm...

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Update on updates

Introduction

Blog Archive

About Me