We’re This Many!

Happy Birthday to Us!

The Burrito Riders of Louisville have been blessed with an awesome experience this past week. I know, I know… I say every ride is INCREDIBLE, but srsly. 😉

Oh, and we’re an official LLC too!

First off, this past week marked our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, and the ‘Riders decided to go big with it: 300 burritos distributed! So, that alone would be notable, but we were also fortunate to be joined by the high school youth of St. Mary’s Navilleton out of Floyd’s Knob, IN. Let me tell you why that was so great… I don’t believe that many of these teens had ever done anything quite so “direct service” with the homeless before, and they didn’t know what to expect. Prior to the ride, they also got a hold of our blog and saw that the folks down at the Campbell Street camp had experienced a theft of all of their canned food stores. The youth decided to go door to door asking for donations of canned food to help the Campbell camp replenish. Mind you, we had no idea this was going on. They had generously offered to provide 100 burritos, in addition to their own hands and feet, and that was what we were expecting. They also brought with them more than 200 canned food items for the camp!

It actually tied together a whole famine/empathy/service theme for them. (Ethan, correct me in the comments if I’m wrong!) They were fasting themselves, so imagine a bunch of teens, hungry, making these delicious burritos and then, the next morning, still hungrier, handing these burritos out to folks who know hunger. Ethan, their youth leader, told our riders that he had made “confessional-style” videos of the kids beforehand talking about their assumptions and apprehensions about serving the homeless. After the ride he was going to have them on video again talking about their experience. I saw the video last night, and it was pretty powerful stuff. I couldn’t be more proud of those kids and how they worked with people in the community. I’m awaiting direct consent from Ethan before I post a link to share on the blog and FB page, but I can’t wait for you to see it! Here’s the video link! (The quality is “highly optimized,” but they’re sending me a higher quality file to post here.)

Also, check the blog for some ride notes from folks who were there this weekend. I should have that up today! I did not have that up that day, but today it’s coming up after this post!

So 300 burritos and more than 200 canned goods, I’d call that a pretty awesome anniversary! For those of you who haven’t read back far enough to see our “origin story,” our first ride was March 17th of last year, with six of us riding into the unknown. We had no idea what we’d find, or if there would be an audience for our ministry, but we had 10 burritos and a desire to find out. It took us every bit of three hours to give away those 10 burritos! Nowadays, we give out over 200 burritos in less than 90 minutes. Crazy.

So, looking back, it’s been a great year. I have been so blessed to find myself surrounded by folks who are passionate, generous, and loving. The folks who make the burritos, deliver the burritos, or donate to the cause, are some of the best folks you could meet. We wouldn’t BE without each one of them.

To date, the Burrito Riders have been able to give out over 4,700 burritos to people in our community. We have provided multiple bundles of heavy-weight, high quality moving blankets to protect people from the cold. We’ve rehabbed and donated 2 bicycles to folks without a way to get around. And, most importantly, we have changed a few people’s perceptions, including my own, about homelessness and the people who live with it. And this is ALL possible because of the blessings of your support and God’s love and grace.

Thank you!

Love to Ride, Live to Serve