1300 burritos for skid row

1300. I'll admit, I had my doubts about it. Would we raise enough money for the burritos? How were we going to make all the food? I had never organized the production, or distribution of so much food. Sure, I had coordinated a tea party for 30 people, but this was different.

On Saturday, March 27, I got to see my goals turn into a reality as I watched my sorority, Alpha Delta Chi, and friends pass out burritos to the homeless community on Skid Row. But it wasn't just the sense of accomplishment I felt that made me smile, but the excitement amongst my sisters at the end of the day -- a renewed heart to serve the poor.

The event as a whole, couldn't have gone any better. It was a 2-part event, beginning with a Breakfast Burrito Fundraiser, where we sold breakfast burritos for $5 -- promoting our event with the slogan: "Eat One. Give Five." The idea was that by paying $5 to eat one burrito, you were giving five to Skid Row. All proceeds went to making more burritos and to Central City Community Outreach, a program dedicated to changing lives in the Skid Row Community.

With the money we raised, I got to work calculating how much food we needed to make 1300 burritos. It was time to make lots of burritos.

Step 1: Biggest and longest Costco trip ever! Duration: 2.5 hours. Weight: 400lbs. Yeah. Imagine a small Asian girl pushing around a huge cart of 1200 tortillas, 75 lbs of beans, 75 lbs and rice, and 80 lbs of ground beef.

Step 2: Cooking day! All of Friday was spent cooking rice, beans, and ground beef. Big thank you the Alpha Gamma Omega and Theta Xi for letting us use their huge kitchens and refrigerators to store the food overnight.

Step 3: Assembly lines! Beginning at 9am Saturday morning, we rolled 1300 burritos in 2.5 hours. Talk about efficient.

With our cars loaded with people and burritos, a group of about 35 people headed to Skid Row. Check out the awesome pictures below!

Events should create change. They should affect people. We gave out more than burritos that Saturday afternoon. We changed lives -- we were changed, and I hope I get the opportunity to plan more events like that in the future.