Hey Bay Area Peanut Butter-ers,

The return of SF PBP is here and we couldn’t be more excited. So excited to be exact, that we’re going back to our usual routine. Our next PBP evening will be Monday, January 26th at McSweeney’s Publishing (849 Valencia St. in the Mission.)

We’ll provide: gloves, ziplock bags, spreading utensils, some wine and Ryan’s iPod plugged into a speaker.

We hope you’ll provide: sandwich-making supplies including PB, jelly, and bread, plus your exciting selves.

After we make sandos, everyone will split them for distribution around the city. Come on down, bring lots of friends, and REMEMBER: a 3:1 ratio of pb to jelly is the key to an excellent sandwich. No really, REMEMBER: We couldn’t do any of this without you. Questions? Contact ryan@peanutbutterplan.org

many thanks,

Ryan

Saint Paul is back up and running with the sandwiches after taking a little break for the holidays (handing out socks instead in December to help those in need keep their feet warm in the cold Minnesota weather). The PBP for this month will be on Thursday, January 21st at 6:30pm at Cafe Latte in St. Paul. Let me know if you would like to help out! Also feel free to bring any and all sandwich ingredients – ham and cheese has been a huge hit.

Hello Peanut Butter Planners and Happy New Year! Let’s turn 2010 into a year of giving.

I’m really excited about how many January events are shaping up, all over the country. Here’s the information I have on upcoming sandwich-making parties (with many more to be added):

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR
Date: Saturday, January 16, 2 p.m.
Location: 2029 Topf Rd.
Point-Person: Camden Riley

BOSTON, MA
Date: Sunday, January 24, 2 p.m.
Location: TBD
Point-Person: Rachel Oliver

TAMPA, FL
Date: Sunday, January 24, 2 p.m.
Location: TBD
Point-Person: Alissa Hopkins

GRAND RAPIDS, MI
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 5 p.m.
Location: Outside the Wealthy Street Theater, 1130 Wealthy St.
Point-Person: Matthew Russell

SANTA CRUZ, CA
Date: Thursday, January 28, 4 p.m.
Location: Sub Rosa, 703 Pacific Ave.
Point-Person: Monica Schaefer

PHOENIX, AZ
Date: Friday, January 29, 6:30 p.m.
Location: TBD
Point-Person: Hunter Riley

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Date & location: Ryan will announce this information on the PBP group page, soon.
Point-Person: Ryan Lewis

ST. PAUL, MN
Date & location: Christine will announce this information on the PBP group page, soon.
Point-Person: Christine Olson

LOS ANGELES, CA
Date: Monday, February 1, 3:30 p.m.
Note: This is a Peanut Butter Plan bike ride!
Point-Person: Ashley Grace Campbell

TOLEDO, OH
Date: Monday, February 1
Location: TBD
Point-Person: Linda Simpson

Be there! Also: check the group for announcements from Point-People about events in your area. Also: let me know if you’d like to get in touch with anybody and I can help facilitate that. Finally: let me know if you’d like to be a Point-Person/throw a party in your area. More info on what that involves can be found, here.

Keep inviting folks to join the Facebook group by clicking the “invite people to join” tab at the top of the page. That’s the best way to help this cause grow. If each person represents 10 or 20 sandwiches a month, that can really add up. We currently have 2,482 members in the Facebook group which translates – if everybody does their part – into 24,820 sandwiches passed out to hungry folks all over the place, this month. If everybody in this group invited 10 people to join, that would be an additional 20,000 members and an additional 200,000 sandwiches! (Dang.)

Finally, this is just the seventh of many more Peanut Butter Plans. I can’t thank you enough for joining this group and for your continued efforts and I’m so excited to hear about how all of these parties go. This really is a quick & easy thing you can do, wherever you are, and it actually WILL make a difference.

And once again: keep in mind that we’re going to be doing this every single month, indefinitely, so let me know if you’d like to plan a future party, or if you have any ideas to help spread the word and/or sandwiches.

Thank you again for everything! Now let’s go feed some people.

All the best,
Jory John

Hello Peanut Butter Planners!

This month, our sandwich-making parties are abbreviated, due to the holidays and such, but it would be great if you still took a day to pass out at least 10 sandwiches (or more!), wherever you are.

In January, we’ll be back in full swing, with parties across the country. For now, any upcoming December gatherings will be announced by Point People on the Facebook page and/or this website.

Additionally, since we’ve had six great months of the PBP, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the amazing twenty-seven Point People who have emerged in cities across the United States and beyond. Since June 1, these kindhearted folks have planned sandwich-making parties, coordinated distribution efforts, and gotten their friends (as well as strangers) involved with the Peanut Butter Plan, in the midst of their own very busy lives.

It amazes me that the Peanut Butter Plan has popped up in so many places. Point-People over the last six months include:

Ryan Lewis (San Francisco, CA), Evey Rothstein (Los Angeles, CA), Christine Olson (St. Paul, MN), Rachel Khong (Gainesville, FL), Matthew Russell (Grand Rapids, MI), Mia Johnston (Berkeley, CA), Hunter Riley (Phoenix, AZ), Flannery Cronin (London, England), Camden Riley (Little Rock, AR), Monica Schaefer (Santa Cruz, CA), Erica Howard (Austin, TX), Thomas Smith (Columbia, SC), Rachel Oliver (Boston, MA), Roberto Noensie (Fayetteville, AR), Denise Peters (Calgary, Alberta), Nina Nadkarni (Vancouver, British Columbia), Jennifer Thompson (San Antonio, TX), Justin Hagar (Burlington, Ontario), Pamela Langan (Edmonton, Alberta), Colby Nichols (Camarillo, CA), Alissa Hopkins (Tampa, FL), Michael Separy (Toronto, Ontario), Amy Repsher Gerbig (Los Angeles, CA), Mary Dickinson (Portland, OR) Kim Selig (St. Louis, MO) Rebekah Gunderson (South Lake Tahoe, CA) and Kat Brockway (Washington, DC).

(If you’re in one of those cities and want to get in touch with one of those folks, let me know. Or, if you’d like to become a Point-Person, also let me know.)

I’d like to acknowledge Jono Finger for creating this Peanut Butter Plan website, Avery Monsen for designing the PBP logo, McSweeney’s (in SF) and Café Latte (in St. Paul) for hosting us repeatedly, Ryan Lewis for being involved almost since the day this started, Christine Olson and Matthew Russell for their reliability, Walter Green for his live party music, and everything that Hunter Riley does in Phoenix, continually going beyond the call of Point-Person duty. Water bottles? Exact sandwich-making averages? Funny newsletters? That’s Hunter.

And the biggest thank you, of course, goes out to you, the (as of this writing) 2,477 members of the Peanut Butter Plan group (on Facebook). Seriously. Many, many thanks for being involved and passing out sandwiches and helping to spread the word, every month. We couldn’t do any of this without you.

I’m sure that the Peanut Butter Plan will continue to grow in 2010 with more sandwich-making parties and more people and more cities, feeding people and (if only for a little while) helping to alleviate their hunger. Keep inviting your friends to join (click the “invite friends to join” link on the Facebook page), which is the best way to grow this group.

And for now, if you have a few moments today or tomorrow or the next day, etc. (or, while you’re hanging out with your family over the holidays and you’re bored of television and you’re looking for something to do) make 10 or 100 PB&J sandwiches and go pass them out to hungry folks in your area!

Happy holidays and thanks again …
Jory John

The weather is always unreliable here in Michigan. We’ve been rained out once and the snow is starting to come down pretty thick, but now is the time that the less fortunate might find it even harder to get a decent meal. So we’re going to be doubling our efforts down and seeking donations for each Peanut Butter Plan party from local bakeries and restaurants. Extra vegan cookies from my own bakery will also be handed out. I hope everyone is planned to have a great winter. We will be braving the chill for the next 6 months.

Matt

If you have a bunch of Thanksgiving leftovers, consider passing them out to hungry folks, wherever you live.

The San Francisco publication Mission Local did a great photo essay on the Peanut Butter, which you can see here.

Hi folks,

Join Tampa Point-Person Alissa Hopkins for a sandwich-making party tomorrow, Sunday, November 15 at 2 PM.

If you’d like to be a part of it, e-mail Alissa at alissa_hopkins@hotmail.com

Go Tampa!

Here’s an inspiring update from Camden Riley, North Little Rock/Little Rock Point-Person, in Arkansas:

For my Peanut Butter Plan party that I had in October, I got about 78 loaves of bread donated from a local Wonder Bread place!

My parents’ good friend, who was a Katrina refuge, got her womens’ group to bring peanut butter & jelly, which she gave to me to use. And she also got around $75 dollars donated, for me to use.

I had around 15 people show up, and we made 500 sandwiches! The sandwiches that we made got handed out at an immunization they had for the homeless down by the river in North Little Rock!

(Thanks to Camden’s great efforts, along with everybody in Little Rock. Send your sandwich-making distribution stories to jory@peanutbutterplan.org.)

Hello Peanut Butter Planners!
We’re almost halfway through November and sandwich-making parties are shaping up.

Upcoming events, with more to be announced:

ST. PAUL, MN
TONIGHT, Thursday, November 12, 8 PM
Café Latte, 850 Grand Ave.
Point-Person: Christine Olson

CALGARY, ALBERTA
Saturday, November 14, 12 PM
Mt. Norquay Park
Point-Person: Denise Peters

GRAND RAPIDS, MI
Wednesday, November 18, 7 PM
Commute Bike Shop parking lot
Point-Person: Matthew Russell

PHOENIX, AZ
Friday, November 20, 7 PM
Location TBD (check the website & Facebook page for updates)
Point-Person: Hunter Riley

SAN ANTONIO, TX
Saturday, November 28
Location & time: TBD
Point-Person: Jennifer Thompson

Be there! Also: check the group’s “recent news” section for all of the additional info and more parties that will be announced. These gatherings are more about community-building and getting inspired … so it would be great if you could bring your own bread, peanut butter & jelly. (Otherwise, go solo, wherever you are. You don’t need a party to make & distribute sandwiches.) And if you’d like to become a Point-Person in your area, just let me know.

Additionally, Point-People and sandwich-making parties have popped up in these areas in the past month:

Union City, CA, Ventura County, CA, Daytona Beach, FL, Hagerstown, MD, Vancouver, BC, Tampa, FL, Portland, OR, Edmonton, Alberta, Fayetteville, AR

If you live in one of those places and would like to get connected, let me know. Or, if you’d like to become a Point Person, check out what that entails here.

Some updates:

1. The San Francisco publication, Mission Local, did a great photo essay of a San Francisco Peanut Butter Plan outing, which you can see here. Thanks to journalists Nina & Patrick for their work on it.

2. The Peanut Butter Plan is going to start featuring sandwich-distribution stories in the blog. Check out Michael Separy’s recent story, from Toronto, here, to get an idea.

And submit your own story to me for (pretty much) immediate publication. We’d love to hear what you’ve been doing & how it’s been going.

3. Speaking of which, I’ve really been enjoying Phoenix Point-Person Hunter Riley’s e-newsletter, which he sends to folks involved in sandwich-making/distribution in the Phoenix area. Not only does he write great notes, he takes the time to average out how many sandwiches were made by people attending. Here’s an excerpt:

As a follow-up to last month, we made 205 sandwiches and had our biggest group yet. I think we had 16 total participants, but never got an accurate count, so we’ll go with 15 — which means we made 13.67 sandwiches per person (a lower output per person, but still our greatest total amount of sandwiches).

You can get in touch with Hunter through the Facebook page.

4. Kristen Daniel, a teacher at SF Friends School, and San Francisco Point-Person Ryan Lewis have started a collaboration that I think is really strong: basically, Kristen’s eighth grade class makes sandwiches, once a week, and delivers them to Ryan, where he and his San Francisco crew take them out to hungry folks in the Mission District. This is a great way to get classrooms full of kids involved, and get them thinking about issues of hunger and homelessness. (If you’re a classroom teacher and would like to connect with a Point Person in your area, let me know.)

5. An idea for Thanksgiving: if you’re planning on throwing/attending a party, it could be a great do any of these things:

a.) With your family/friends/group, pass out the leftovers to hungry people. b.) Make & take sandwiches with you, too. Instant sandwich-making party! c.) This is also a good time to think about some basics that people could use, whether it’s a dry pair of socks, a toothbrush & toothpaste, a good book to read, or anything else that comes to mind that could make things just a little bit more comfortable for people. Ask people to bring one (or many) of those things with them, and then pass them out after dinner.

6. Finally, this is just the sixth of many more Peanut Butter Plans. I can’t thank you enough for joining this group and for your continued efforts and I’m so excited to hear about how all of these parties go. This really is a quick & easy thing you can do, wherever you are, and it will actually make a difference.

And once again: keep in mind that we’re going to be doing this every single month, indefinitely, so let me know if you’d like to plan a future party, or if you have any ideas to help spread the word and/or sandwiches.

Thank you again for everything! Now let’s go feed some people.

All the best,
Jory John