Entertaining and compelling real-life stories. The author is successful
business, real estate, and media entrepreneur Dick Kazan.
Published on August 16th, 2016
Allan Law: A guardian angel to the homeless.
Allan Law
For 32-years Allan was a Minneapolis inner-city school teacher.
During those years, after school and on weekends, he was a mentor to
many children in poverty, most with no fathers in their homes.
Then in 1999 when Allan retired, he decided to take his devotion to the
next level, and help those people who had nothing and no-one.
What began modestly in 1999, has now become a major rescue operation.
Every night Allan packs his minivan with sandwiches, blankets, hats,
gloves and socks and at 8 pm, he begins driving the streets of
Minneapolis.
There, he greets homeless people with hugs and kind words and hands
them what they need to survive the night, particularly in winter's
subzero temperatures.
In the wintertime, survival can be literal. Known for its frigid
winters, some Minneapolis homeless people freeze to death.
But any time of year, there aren't enough shelters to feed and house
those in need, and in some cases, Allan is providing food to people who
haven't eaten in days.
Each night Allan delivers 600 - 700 sandwiches, a godsend to those who
are hungry, homeless children among them.
"Last year I passed out 520,000 sandwiches, 2,000 blankets, 2,000 -
3,000 pair of socks to the homeless who have nothing," Allan remarked
in a video.
Where does Allan get so much food and other supplies?
From over 700 community groups, among them schools, religious
organizations, individuals and corporations which donate the resources
and the sandwiches to him.
Allan arrives home at noon each day, after spending the night with the
homeless, and sleeping 3 to 4 hours on the front seat of his minivan.
He hasn't slept in a bed in 13-years.
During the day, he collects the food and other supplies, stores the
food in 10 freezers in his small home and at 8 pm, he sets off to care
for the homeless again.
"The most important thing this program delivers is compassion," Allan
told a schoolroom class.
"That's what it's all about. Changing lives for the better. And I'm so
lucky because I get to deliver the food."
Editor's Note: To see Allan in action, please watch this 4 minute, 55
second vimeo video: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=5975 To
learn more http://www.363days.org/allanlaw.html and
https://www.facebook.com/mr.allanlaw/.
In the next KazanToday: Community cafes that allow customers to pay
whatever they want.
