Eat lunch, raise dough for CARITAS

In the spirit of Goodwill stores and Junior League resale shops, CARITAS just opened it "Do Good Deli," a downtown, delivery-only sandwich shop. It's a for-profit buisness that CARITAS hopes will help maintain the bottom line of the nonprofit CARITAS.

Here's how it works: You choose a sandwich or salad from the menu, with prices ranging from $5.99 for the Vegan Velvet Elvis to $8.99 for the Rockin' Roast Beef. Call or fax them with a big group order, more than $20. They appreciate your calling the day before you need the sandwiches, but they might also be able to handle later notice.

The delivery area is between Lamar to I-35 and Cesar Chavez to 12th Street, but that includes a lot of people who like to eat lunch. When you get the lunch, you pay, and the profit Do Good Deli makes goes back to CARITAS.

You like to eat lunch? Work in the downtown area with another person who likes to eat lunch? Of course you do! We all love lunch.

Some notes: The food is not prepared by homeless people, so don't picture people under an overpass making your sandwich off a found mattress. The whole operation is separate from CARITAS client services. And the place is run like a business, with all the employees earning a fair, living wage. And one of the driving forces behind the deli is a board member who also happens to own a chain of sandwich shops called Thundercloud Subs. So they probably have a solid business plan under them.

... just another example of nonprofits and volunteers finding new ways to support their missions. I hope to hear some good news coming from them soon!