If you are homeless in Jackson Heights, New York, you probably know the local bus driver who delivers home cooked meals. His name is Jorge Munoz and he’s been doing it since 2004.
Munoz is an immigrant from Columbia. He came to American in the 1980s to meet up with his Mother. He has since become a citizen.
In 2004, Munoz stared the An Angel in Queens program. His goal was to pick up meals that business throw away and hand them out to those in need. Soon, he and his family began cooking meals too.
His operations started feed 20 homeless people a day. He’s up to 140 meals a night! Munoz works as a bus driver, yet he delivers food daily rain or shine.
The 43 year old spends about $400 a week delivering food and his family spends their own money to help him. They also take in donations.
Munoz is just giving back to the community. For many of the people he feeds, the meal he provides is the only one they will eat that day.
Here’s more on the organization, An Angel in Queens
There is a little unknown project going on at Utah State Prison. The medium security facility houses those convicted on drug charges, theft, and so forth. These inmates with nothing but time on their hands are being introduced to genealogy. It’s producing some amazing results.
The LDS Church, known for their genealogy practices, have a program going at the Utah State Prison where they hope to turn inmates on to the obsession known as genealogy. They’ve set up family history centers within the prison confines. Approximately 600 inmates are being taught how to research their family tree. They are using the older records available at the family history center and they are allowed to contact facilities by mail to find records not at their disposal.
In addition to this, they are helping on record extraction projects. This work is valuable to all genealogists. And, very much appreciated! Anyone who has strained over a microfilm reading trying to understand handwriting from the 1800s knows how difficult this can be. I was surprised to see that inmates are extracting 500,000 to a million names a year! Wow!
Pains are taking to ensure that identify theft is not an issue. Access to more recent records is prohibited. Inmates can only view those records from generations past.
It appears they are also learning skills that might help them get jobs once they are released. The research skills alone will be invaluable.
Thoughts and prayers for the families who lost their loved ones in this tragedy, please.
So many times you hear of parents getting involved in their children’s sport teams for the worse. Then you hear about kids who behave badly out on the field or after a game. These people from Danville, California, know the meaning of true sportsmanship.
Two high school basketball teams made it to the NorCal Division I Championship game. One team, Monte Vista, comes from a well to do school district. The other, McClymond’s, comes from a cash strapped barely have a sports program that survives district. In the tournament, McClymond’s beat Monte Vista 46-43. Monte Vista went home to Danville dejected and defeated. McClymond’s went on to the California Interscholastic Federation Division I State Title game.
McClymond’s didn’t have enough money to get the kids to Sacramento for the over night stay. The coach had been spending his own money on the team all season and couldn’t pay for the trip. The team would have to drive up to Sacramento the same day of the game and drive back home right after. The money wasn’t there.
Some parents at Monte Vista heard about McClymond’s problems. The parents and students arranged a donation drive and collected $1,100 to help the team that beat them get to the State Championship.
It turns out the district had enough money for the trip and that there was some sort of miscommunication. They have sent back the donation with a big thank you.
It goes to show that people have a heart. Hopefully, the kids on both teams came away with a positive message from this incident. It isn’t always about winning. It’s about helping each other out.
