A story, from today.
I was dispatched to do a recon mission for a customer who wants to add some automated process to a peanut butter canning line. I got the address and drove out there, and even before I got there, it seemed a little "off." I was in a residential/suburban neighborhood, not in an industrial area. I arrived at the correct address and instead of a peanut butter factory, there was LDS church. I went ahead and pulled in, just as a place to park and call back to the office and let them know about the error. Then I looked up, and one of the doors to the church was labeled "peanut butter factory." I went inside, and sure enough, there was a peanut butter factory inside this church!
It was pretty bizarre to see. I associate Mormons with what I see; Mormons riding bicycles with white shirts and ties. If I ever saw them doing something else, I didn't know it. And then to see them running a legitimate peanut butter factory, inside a church, was eye opening.
They make the peanut butter from peanuts grown elsewhere by Mormon farmers in a CO-OP. Then they sell a little bit of it at inflated prices, as a charity funding operation, but the bulk of it they deliver to homeless shelters around Houston and beyond. They call it the Houston Welfare Cannery, and it is staffed almost exclusively by volunteers. Apparently they can't find a volunteer that is attentive enough to make sure all the jars go down the line right-side-up, which is why I'm getting involved.
Pretty cool. I wish I could help them out at a discounted rate or something, but unfortunately/fortunately my company is not a charity operation.
http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-05-03-helping-houstons-hungry?category=welfare
I was dispatched to do a recon mission for a customer who wants to add some automated process to a peanut butter canning line. I got the address and drove out there, and even before I got there, it seemed a little "off." I was in a residential/suburban neighborhood, not in an industrial area. I arrived at the correct address and instead of a peanut butter factory, there was LDS church. I went ahead and pulled in, just as a place to park and call back to the office and let them know about the error. Then I looked up, and one of the doors to the church was labeled "peanut butter factory." I went inside, and sure enough, there was a peanut butter factory inside this church!
It was pretty bizarre to see. I associate Mormons with what I see; Mormons riding bicycles with white shirts and ties. If I ever saw them doing something else, I didn't know it. And then to see them running a legitimate peanut butter factory, inside a church, was eye opening.
They make the peanut butter from peanuts grown elsewhere by Mormon farmers in a CO-OP. Then they sell a little bit of it at inflated prices, as a charity funding operation, but the bulk of it they deliver to homeless shelters around Houston and beyond. They call it the Houston Welfare Cannery, and it is staffed almost exclusively by volunteers. Apparently they can't find a volunteer that is attentive enough to make sure all the jars go down the line right-side-up, which is why I'm getting involved.
Pretty cool. I wish I could help them out at a discounted rate or something, but unfortunately/fortunately my company is not a charity operation.
http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-05-03-helping-houstons-hungry?category=welfare
