As you know, food is pretty much my end all be all. I cook from scratch every single day and I adore feeding people. I think everyone should know how to bake a loaf of bread from scratch and not feel intimidated in the kitchen. So when I was asked what I would do if Ford lent me a brand new car for a week… it was to feed people. Ford not only lent me a brand new 2019 Ford Edge Titanium; they also gave me a budget to see what I could do with a single tank of gas. That’s how #OneTankOfGood came together.
While I knew I wanted to feed people, there was a lot of planning to be done first. Luckily I’ve made some pretty great friends throughout the years and I reached out to Erica Watson, who is the most amazing actress/director/comedienne and sits on the advisory board of Chi Gives Back. Chi Gives Back is a local organization that makes a difference in Chicago by helping teachers and families and so much more. We were thrilled to partner with them to help feed some hungry people on the streets in Chicago.
Erica connected me with Chef Gabriel of Temple Fuel, a healthy meal-prep service in Palos Hills, to make our food. With Chef Gabriel not only were we able to pick up hot meals packed to go, but they were all healthy with a variety of proteins from chicken to salmon. Our hungry friends on the street rarely get such a selection of healthy and hearty meals. I was thrilled to be offering up something other than hot sandwiches!
To help keep costs down and also continue the #OneTankOfGood theme, Susie and I shopped at a locally owned market in Arlington Heights called Harvest Fresh. Shopping locally at a small family owned market allowed us to make our money count in more than one way. Harvest Fresh has amazing produce and I was able to pick up some organic produce cheaper than if I’d shopped at a chain grocery store. They also thoughtfully gave me a discount on what I was buying when they heard I was doing charity work. This also put money back into our local economy at the same time.
With a 396 miles in our tank, the 2019 Ford Edge Titanium was a perfect choice to pick- up ingredients to take to Temple Fuel, pick-up the board members of Chi Gives Back all over the city, pickup the hot meals at Temple Fuel and then spend the afternoon driving around Chicago feeding our hungry friends.