Since long before Harvey Milk first allied with San Francisco Teamsters to help them get a better contract, LGBT groups have teamed up with others in need, giving our time and energy to help address their issues. Last week, the new Bemidji LGBT group The Hospitality Initiative of Servant’s Hearts helped the local United Way and Kids Against Hunger pack a huge number of packaged meals (each pouch feeds 8 people) at the local Boys and Girls Club. The Hospitality Initiative is doing some great work up north by tackling the problem of homophobia head-on, working with GSAs at the local high school and University, and organizing a seminar aimed at social service agencies, employers, and health care providers, to be held in mid-April. By seeking allies among these groups, they hope to begin building a chorus of voices who can speak out against the sometimes-overwhelming homophobia in the area.

Via email, Cathy Perry, who leads the group along with Tandy Bowman, passed along some pictues from the event on February 27th:

We helped pack approximately 64,000 meals on our shift from 12:00 – 1:30pm. There were 3 shifts, 200 community volunteers per shift at 20 packing stations. The meal was a 5″x7″ sealed baggie weighing just under 400 grams, and included soy meal, dehydrated vegetables, chicken base flavoring with vitamins, and white long grain rice.