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Bakersfield Burrito Project
Bakersfield Burrito Project is a secular, nonprofit limited liability corporation that creates hot burrito lunches for the hungry and homeless of Bakersfield, California. Using fresh ingredients and cooking rice and beans from raw goods, a team of about ten to fifteen volunteers use assembly line production to create between 200-250 burritos in about twenty minutes. Burritos, snack foods, water bottles and other donations collected through the week are then driven to specific locations in Bakersfield and distributed to anyone who wants food, no questions asked, nothing required from those accepting the food.

Founding
The Bakersfield Burrito Project was started July 5, 2009 by Belinda Lopez Rickett and Robert Earl Singleton. After being discouraged with another group feeding the homeless and hungry, Belinda Lopez Rickett researched online and found the Burrito Project, a national group that allowed individual branches to establish independently within their communities. After contacting the organization through MySpace, Belinda established the Bakersfield Burrito Project by making 27 burritos in her kitchen, sitting in a city park and handing them to anyone that wanted one.

On that first day, Belinda encountered a mother and her children who were relaxing at the park. The mother had a residence at the Bakersfield Homeless Shelter and chose to spend the day at the park. She had no food for herself and her kids, and Belinda’s burritos made the rest of the day at the park bearable. Belinda took this chance encounter as affirmation she had chosen to do the right thing in making burritos for the homeless and hungry, and every single weekend (missing only one weekend since 2009) she has diligently created and served burritos to the homeless and hungry of Bakersfield.

The Bakersfield Burrito Project needed a logo and mascot to visually represent the project. Lopez Rickett searched the internet for an image of a burrito with traditional, jovial Mexican garb. She found Señor Burrito Perfecto on the Internet and researched who the artist was from the initials on the painting. Lopez Rickett found the artist Jorge Guiterrez and Guiterrez gave the Bakersfield Burrito Project permission to use Señor Burrito Perfecto for anything representing the Bakersfield Burrito Project.

Originally, it was only Belinda and a few of her friends that started the work. With a camping stove and comals to heat tortillas, and a crock pot of beans that had been cooked overnight, the three ladies would sit in a city park and make burritos for anyone who wanted one.

As word spread, more and more volunteers arrived to help.

Permits troubles and resolution
Eventually, the Bakersfield Burrito Project grew too large to remain hidden in a city park distributing burritos to people in need. Many of the homeless consumers the group served complained the Bakersfield Police will not let them congregate near the park and were afraid of being arrested. Lopez Rickett wanted to insure the guests of the Thanksgiving Breakfast Burrito outreach would feel comfortable in a reserved location at the park.On November 16, 2012, Jason Rickett, a new volunteer, obtained a permit for the Bakersfield Burrito Project to host their Thanksgiving breakfast distribution. Bakersfield Parks and Recreations discovered through news reports the Bakersfield Burrito Project planned to feed more people than was more than the park permit indicated. The park permit was revoked. The Bakersfield Burrito Project was told by Parks and Recreations the group was not to set foot onto any park or they would be arrested. Karen Goh facilitated finding a new venue for the Bakersfield Burrito Project, the Thanksgiving Breakfast Burrito outreach was held on private property and became a roaring success.

Health Permits and a Health Department regulated kitchen became necessary to remain in action. A corporation was formed, with a Board of Directors, Executive Officers, and all the required paperwork was filed with the state of California creating the Bakersfield Burrito Project as an official Limited Liability Corporation. Pastor Karen Stoffers-Pugh, who had volunteered on a few occasions with the Bakersfield Burrito Project, offered Wesley United Methodist Church's kitchen to make sure the Bakersfield Burrito Project remained operating. Shortly thereafter, the Kern County Health Department gave the Bakersfield Burrito Project licensing to operate.

Current Operations
The Bakersfield Burrito Project continues to operate through the community kitchen at Wesley United Methodist Church. Volunteers arrive at eleven o'clock each Sunday morning, enjoys a hot breakfast the Bakersfield Burrito Project provides, while dry rice cooks and dry beans cook in a pressure cooker to speed the process. Tortilla are heated on a commercial griddle, placed between aluminum foil sheets to keep them warm, and placed in a warming oven to keep the tortillas hot. Once the beans have finished cooking, the assembly line process begins. Beans, rice and cheese are blended in a container, then moved to the assembly line where volunteers use ice cream scoops to place measured portions on each tortilla. The aluminum foil sheet, tortilla and portion of "burrito guts," as the Bakersfield Burrito Project is apt to call the mixture, is scooted down to the next in line. These volunteers fold the tortillas into burritos, wrap the burrito in the aluminum sheet, and place then burritos on heating trays. Once a tray is filled, it is put into a warming oven. Ingredients, tortillas, and completed burritos never stay away from heat for more than ten minutes. Once all the burritos are completed, they are packed into insulated bags to maintain a 160°F (71.1°C) temperature. Volunteer vehicles are loaded with snacks, water bottles and the insulated containers. Two or three separate deliveries are made at once, some going to established delivery points like the parking lot of Millcreek Church in downtown Bakersfield, some going to Oildale, the Union Avenue corridor, and Baker Street and Niles. Delivery drivers safely pull to the curb and offer burrito lunches to anyone they find on the street, searching specifically for the homeless. They also go to homeless camps and deliver food, clothing, water and snacks.

Funding
Since its inception, the Bakersfield Burrito Project is funded solely through private donations and occasional corporate donations. The Bakersfield Burrito Project receives no federal or commercial grants. Everyone at the Bakersfield Burrito Project is a volunteer, from the executive staff to the Board Members to the individuals working the streets; no one receives a salary. All the food is donated through concerned individuals, churches and groups. Office rent space, liability insurance, and other corporate expenses are paid through exhaustive fundraising campaigns or from the personal donations of volunteers and Board Members.

Future Plans
As well as constantly expanding delivery routes with new volunteers reaching new areas of Bakersfield, the Bakersfield Burrito foresees opening a "suspended meal" restaurant. Patrons can buy meals from an established menu and also buy meals that are "suspended" for anyone needing a meal, but cannot afford one. The Board of Directors are currently working on a business plan to establish this process.