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The Burrito Project

In the early morning light, the chanting of the Thousand
Names fades into the smell of fresh pinto beans cooking for the handmade burritos we put into sack lunches for the homeless. Our Mother's kitchen project has supplied over 35,000 burritos since the first meal was delivered. Devotees lovingly bag the carrots, chips, cookies, and sodas. Rather than a morning of coffee, newspaper and croissants, devotees spend Sunday morning cooking onions, rolling tortillas with a tasty filling, carefully wrapping them for their journey to a hungry tummy.

The Burrito Project is held every Sunday from 9:30am to 11:00am. If you want to help, come on over to the ashram around starting time and we will show you what to do.

"Compassion should shine forth in our every thought,
word and deed."        ~ Amma

Yakima is a 13-year-old with deep brown eyes and has played the violin since he was three. His first violin teacher, Robin Close, helped him to study at Inter-locken. Yakima loves to play pieces by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

Sometimes though, Yakima and his family are very hungry.
"We often don't have enough to eat," his mother said one bright Sunday afternoon in a Santa Fe park. She and her son were in line to receive warm burrito lunches and clothes The Amma Center were giving out. "The churches don't feed people on Sundays, this is a blessing, we are grateful."

The Burrito Project started a little over six years ago at The Amma Center Ashram. In conjunction with Bienvenidos, 100 lunches are lovingly made and served to some of Santa Fe's poorest people each Sunday.

Amma is a saint from Southern India whose ashrams feed over 40,000 meals to people in this country each year alone. Amma teaches that seva, or self-less service to the poor, is an important part of any spiritual practice.

Many children and teens in Santa Fe help with The Burrito Project, and they have deep feelings about what they are doing. "I felt so uplifted that I was doing something to help," said 15-year-old Robin, a student at Santa Fe High. "Instead of complaining that our gov-ernment is not listening to what we say, we can do something about it. We can help our fellow humans."

Sixteen-year-old Rupavati has known Amma since she was born. Asked why she works on The Burrito Project, she replied, " I have been doing this kind of work all of my life. It's not like I just decided to do this. It is like ask-ing me why I breathe."

Eleven-year-old Emily has helped to deliver the lunches and give out clothes. "I feel a little too lucky in my living situation. We always have food in the refrigerator and a warm bed to sleep in. This made me realize how many poor and homeless people there are in Santa Fe. It feels grounding and peaceful to work on the Burrito Project, it feels human." After receiving his burrito, Yakima explained, "I'm not going to always be poor. When I'm 30 and I see a person hitchhiking or begging, I'm going to know how that is and have compassion for them."

You can support The Burrito Project by using a when you shop in Santa Fe. A portion of what you spend will be donated to the Burrito Project each quarter. In the first quarter of 2007 with only six active card users and 19 transactions the donation totaled $42.03. Jai Ma! Please join
us in this easy way of supporting our community."

Donations to The Burrito Project can be sent to Amma Center, Box 4820, Santa Fe, NM 87502.
To help please call 982-9801.