became ill and Dan returned to his home-town of Bisbee to help his parents.

“ I s t a r t e d n o t ic -ing a lot people just hanging out,” he said. “There was this lady named Judy who was doing lunches in the park on Friday and it occurred to me that I could do this.”

S o M a l d o n a d o brought a ham, some cheese and a loaf of bread to the park one day and made sand-wiches for anyone who was hungry.

“ I t h i n k w e f e d 12 people that day,” he remembers.

That one lunch has exploded into a com-munity-supported out-reach mission that now serves several hundred meals a week.

Goar Park Lunches are now served twice a week — at noon on Tuesdays and Fridays — and feed between 30 and 50 hungry people each time. Some are homeless, but not all. Some are on fixed in-comes and run out of money and food stamps before the end of the mont h. O t hers a re temporarily homeless, “travelers” or just pass-ing through. And some are the chronical ly homeless, who live out-doors in and around Bisbee. They range in age from young 20s and teens to the el-derly. And they are all grateful for the meals Maldonado brings.

Dan cooks most ev-e r y t h i n g h i m s e l f , except the desserts, which are often pro-vided by the Bisbee Farmers Market, one of the project’s biggest supporters. He brings it al l down to Goar Park each T uesday and Friday and sets up a serving table with the day’s of ferings. Volunteers often show up to help serve and or clean up. And the meal’s guests some-times help as well.

Last Tuesday’s lunch consisted of roasted curry chicken served with rice, beans, fresh s t e a me d ve g g ie s a green salad and ba-n a n a c r u nch c a ke from The Bisbee Farm-ers Ma rket . Ever y-thing is cooked fresh and served hot every Tuesday and Friday starting at about noon in Goar Park.

As news of the idea spread, support for it grew, and now each Friday’s lunch is pro-vided by a local res-taurant , f rom Ca fé Roka, to the Quarry, the Stock Exchange, Mimosa, Jimmy’s hot dogs, San Jose Lodge, Poco. Other restau-rants and businesses like Old Bisbee Roast-ers a nd Babyc a kes have also donated.

“Pretty much every r e s t au r a nt I h av e asked has said yes,” Maldonado said.

And still others, like hotel s , i nd ividu a l s and even former resi-dents have donated everything from food to funds to personal care items to be given away at the lunches. One wom a n sent a s h o e b o x- s i z e d b o x ful l of dental f loss, s o c k s , t o o t h p a s t e , and toothbrushes,

“It is one way some-

one who doesn’t live i n Bisbee c a n help the people in need,” she wrote on the Goar Park Lunches Face-book page. “It was fun to see how much stuff I could squeeze into one medium size f lat rate box.”

“A lot of people want a way to help,” Mal-donado said. “They need an outlet. And people are generous when they f ind out t here is somet hi ng simple they can do to help. It’s a privilege to have an outlet to give. It’s a very generous community, I’m just the conduit.”

Everyone from the farm hands working in that plot to the own-ers of the farm to the farmers market ven-dors, restaurateurs, business owners and community members are helping to keep the project going.

M a l d o n a d o s a i d he a lso tries to be super consistent.

He has a booth at the Farmers Market each week where he takes donations of food, sup-plies and funds, and he shows up like clock-work every Tuesday and Friday at noon since last November.

“I rea l ly t ried to focus on being a cred-ible, consistent person so people would know I wasn’t a f lake and their donations were going to good use.” He spends each Saturday processing fruit and vegetables — puree-ing, chopping, freez-ing, pickling. His mom helps with the dishes.

“The whole thing is super satisfying and fun,” he said. “You are creating value in your community with-out money. Yeah, we feed 50 people every lunch but the greater impact is empower-ing the greater com-munity and empower-ing people to feed each other. It’s people tak-ing care of each other. Anything we can do without the govern-ment or churches in-volved. I was also on the street for a while in Tucson and that is

just a huge problem there and there are just no resources. Here I saw it as a bite-sized chunk where I could effect change.”

Dan Maldonado and Goar Park Lunches are not affiliated with any other organiza-tion that serves the homeless. Maldona-do did volunteer and work for a time for the Bisbee Coalition for the Homeless, where he was the resident manager two nights a week.

“ I t o ok my work t h e r e a n d I w e n t straight to the street with it,” he said.

H e u n d e r s t a n d s that some homeless are not being served by organizations due to restrictions.

“ T he p e ople who n e e d s e r v ic e s t h e most, those guys are all on the 86 list. They c a n’t s le ep t here,” he said.

Be it due to addic-tion or mental illness, not everyone can fol-low the rules needed to get ser vices. So sometimes, those ser-vices are best brought to them.

Maldonado brings ever y t h i n g ne e de d e ach we ek for t he lunch, and then packs it a l l up and takes it w it h h i m , le av-ing the park cleaner t h a n wh e n h e a r -rived. He has a per-mit from the city and area businesses, like the Stock Exchange, who could complain, have not only toler-ated the lunches but embraced them.

Maldonado’s latest project, the Commu-nity Fridge Project, is about three weeks old and is already feeding about a dozen people a day.

Before they closed for the summer, the Bisbee Unified School District cleaned out their fridges and do-nated about 300 milks, Maldonado said. Other food comes from the Farmers Market and with any money he can find he buys cases of burritos, single serve pizzas, hot dogs, and boils up a dozen and a half eggs, and “feeds the beast” he says.

The fridge, located outdoors on a friend’s p at io o f f B r ewe r y Gulch, is open to any-

one in the community who is hungry. The patio includes a table and chairs, a coffee maker, a microwave to heat things up and dishware and utensils.

“I always call this feeding the teenagers,” he said.

It’s costing him about $150 a week to keep it full. He is dipping

into his own pocket from the few hundred dollars he earns each month doing carpen-try work. Donations have come in to help support the project, even some from out-of-state. Maldonado goes by once a day and stuffs the fridge with 3 0 mi l ks, bu r ritos, hot dogs, pizzas, and

hard-boiled eggs.Through one man

trying to help, Maldo-nado has created exact-ly what his Goar Park Facebook page says “an inclusive place to network, share free food resources, com-mu n a l g a r d e n i n g , volunteering…a more c ompa ssion ate cu l -ture.”

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MALDONADO: To keep the frig full costs $150 a week FROM PAGE A1

Corey Hammond and Linda Melzer receive their lunch provided by former homeless person Dan Maldonado.

A refrigerator displaying rules sits along with a micro-wave oven and a coffee maker outside on a patio in Bisbee for people in need to eat from. The food is pro-vided by former homeless person Dan Maldonado.

Yolanda Richardson, left, and Erin Rhodes serve free food for the homeless and other community members during lunch Friday in Goar Park.

PHOTOS BY MARK.LEVYSVHERALD.COM

The homeless and other community members line up to receive a free lunch provided by Dan Maldonado Friday in Bisbee. Maldonado serves lunch in Goar Park twice a week.

Dan Maldonado receives help unloading his vehicle from Casey Morris as he brings free lunch to the homeless in Bisbee’s Goar Park Friday.

HOW TO HELP:

Visit: Goar Park Lunches on Facebook