Gourmet food truck chef feeds homeless in San Antonio, police harrass her. Who knew being Christian in Texas was a class C misdemeanor?

For the past 10 years, Cheever has devoted her Tuesday nights to providing hot, restaurant-quality meals to homeless people in the downtown area.

Chef Joan Cheever serves high quality, healthy meals to the homeless people of San Antonio, Texas out of her food truck each week, a project she started in 2005. Though she's been running the "Chow Train" for years, local police recently slammed Cheever with a ticket carrying a fine of up to $2,000 because she brought prepared meals to the feeding location in a pick-up truck, take-out style.

Cheever has been cooking for the hungry and her “street peeps” for many years. The Chow Train is a nonprofit food truck that serves hot, healthy and restaurant quality meals to the hungry and homeless and those individuals who are temporarily homeless like the residents of the devastated towns of Joplin, MO, Moore, OK, La Place, LA and those who lost their homes in the Bastrop fires.

As the court date to contest the ticket approaches, Cheever is considering mounting a religious freedom defense, citing laws very similar to the RFRA, which caused so much controversy in Indiana this spring. "This is how I pray," she says, "when I cook this food and deliver it to the people who are less fortunate."

Cheever is scheduled to go before Municipal Court on June 23, but she remained defiant after receiving the citation, arguing that under the 1999 Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, she has a right to serve food to the homeless because she considers it a free exercise of her religion.

Over the past year, it’s become increasingly obvious that the city wants its homeless population out of the view of downtown tourists. It wants to push the homeless west of downtown to Haven for Hope, and discourage any acts of compassion that might divert them from that destination.

Express-News reporter Benjamin Olivo also reported that benches had been discreetly removed from Houston Street because city staffers worried that the benches led to loitering and panhandling in the area. “(The city) has already made being poor and homeless a crime,” Cheever said, “and now they’re going after Good Samaritans. “I always say, 'We’re not working against Haven for Hope, we’re working with them.’ They have a waiting list, and they send their people over to us, and we feed them.”





http://www.thechowtrain.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/15/homeless-feeding_n_7066860.html
http://theweek.com/speedreads/550053/san-antonio-chef-ticketed-2000-feeding-homeless
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-16/san-antonio-woman-fined-2000-feeding-homeless

- by Be For

Read More

grandfather with cancer gets a job with Uber to pay off house, so his daughter and grandkids always have a place to stay

Kenneth Broskey, is still working full-time as an Uber driver and real estate agent in the Detroit area. Broskey told ABC News today he's trying to raise as much money as he can so his daughter, 46, and his two grandchildren, ages 13 and nine, have a place to live when he's soon gone.

"Once I pass away, chances are my daughter, who’s a part-time waitress at a small restaurant will lose the house we live in because she won't be able to afford it anymore," Broskey said. "So I'm doing everything for her and my grandkids at this point. When you find out you're dying, you realize your family and friends are so important."

Thanks to a fateful Uber ride three weeks ago, Broskey met Ronald Gainer and is now $22,000 closer to paying off his family's $95,000 mortgage.

"I was asking him if he liked Uber driving and then he explained how much he loved it because he got to meet new people, and it was also helping him earn extra money before dying because he had head, tongue and throat cancer," Broskey told ABC News today. "I felt super-compelled to help him."

Gainer turned to the owner of a popular barber shop in Detroit for ideas on how to help Broskey, and
Sebastian Jackson, owner of "The Social Club" barber shop, said he got Broskey connected with a communications expert named Karen Dumas in the area, and the three of them worked together to start a GoFundMe account for Broskey this past Monday.

"Uber will continue donating an additional $1 for every rider who uses the promo-code "UberPartnerKen," through April 20th," Anderson added. "Ken is part of the community, and we were so struck by how he's continuing to support his community and family every day even in the face of such challenges."

Broskey said though he's been given an estimated two to 10 weeks left, he feels fine, and he's going to keep driving with the help of morphine pills.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/grandfather-cancer-takes-uber-driving-pay-off-home/story?id=30389188

- by Be For

Read More

Make A Wish and CJ Pony Parts restores an 18 year olds Mach 1

Kodi was one of those rare teenagers who was lucky enough to get to drive his dream car during his teenage years, in this case a 1970 Mach 1. Unfortunately for Kodi, he was diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, which is a rare, highly malignant type of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, on March 20, 2013, the day after his 17th birthday. Kodi’s medical team began treatment immediately, and to say it was probably scary, and that his life was near the edge on a few occasions would be an understatement.

Last summer, the folks at Make A Wish foundation -who work to help youngsters achieve a life enriching dream reached out to CJ Pony Parts for help restoring Kodi’s Mach 1. Not long after the first phone call from Make A Wish, CJ began sending a steady stream of restoration parts to the shop performing the restoration on Kodi’s car.

The project took over 8 months to complete. Just over 2 weeks ago, Kodi finally got to see his restored car for the first time when it was unveiled at a fire hall near his Battlefield, MO home.

It’s nice to think that car guys and gals can help put a smile on the face of a young person who has already had to face so much in his life. We join CJ Pony Parts, Make A Wish, and the others involved in wishing Kodi a full recovery, and many years of fun and enjoyment out of his restored Mach 1.

http://www.streetlegaltv.com/news/cj-pony-parts-teams-with-make-a-wish-to-restore-teens-mach-1/

- by Be For

Read More