The History of the SPUD Patrol
S.P.U.D. Patrol was started by Jeffrey Armstrong in 1977 in Santa Cruz California. At that time, the Reagan administration had cut funding to mental institutions drastically. The result was thousands of borderline mental patients being releasedfrom hospitals with no money, no medication, and nowhere to live. Soon there was a large population of "street people" who were homeless and often poorly fed. They chose to live in the cities that were warmer with active pedestrian traffic, so that they could sit safely on the sidewalk to beg for money. For the residents of Santa Cruz, this meant that merely walking down the street became an obstacle course of dodging beggars, pan-handlers, lunatics, drug-users, alcoholics and a good mixture of just plain unhappy, down-on-their-luck people, all asking for money. The pedestrians seemed to have only two choices. They could walk down the street each day chanting the mantra: "No, no, no, no, No!!! Or they could keep a pocket full of quarters to hand out when asked, just to pacify the unhappy situation. Life became a constant litany of "no, no, no", punctuated by swearing, cursing and scowling faces. Yet giving money brought the uncomfortable feeling that due to their unfortunate street life, most donations went to the maintain the cigarettes, alcohol and drugs addictions of our unhappy street companions.
What to do? For Jeffrey this problem was bothersome. On the one hand, like so many other people, he wanted to help. On the other hand he was not happy subsidizing the cigarette and alcohol companies through daily donations to their local addicts. What else could he do? And so he thought: "If you were living on the street, what would you long for and not have? Love, yes…what else, a bed…too hard to provide… …Food….
Ok, but what kind of food…of course… HOME COOKED FOOD! Great, now what kind of home cooked food is easy to make, not too expensive, easy to serve, has no risk of spoilage or contamination, is easy to transport and serve on the streets from your own home??? And then he saw the simple answer…S.P.U.D. Baked potatoes. Who does not like a baked potato! From that time forward and on a regular basis, Jeffrey would buy a twenty pound bag of potatoes ($8.00), a carton of sour cream ($4.00), a pound of butter ($3.00), (no margarine of course, since margarine is only one molecule away from plastic) a roll of tin foil and a picnic salt and pepper shaker ($7.00). Last of all, he bought an insulated cooler to transport the hot potatoes. ($15.00 or less) and some plastic spoons and paper plates (12.00). The total cost of supplies: $49.00. Weekly cost of feeding one meal to 70 people: $14.00. That’s less than a quarter per person.
If you were starving on the street and hadn’t eaten in two days and someone offered you a quarter or a home made baked potato with butter and sour cream, baked and served with love, which would you choose? In no time the street people in Santa Cruz came to know Jeffrey Armstrong as the "S.P.U.D. Guy". Whenever he had the time and money he would go down to the street and pass out some spuds. And by the way, the usual response from the people being fed was "Why are you doing this" and "God Bless You". The why, is because most people really do care and the "God bless you" is so much nicer than "no, no, no" and angry cursing.
Now, fast forward to Vancouver, Canada 1996, where Jeffrey had moved and was living with his life-partner Sandi Graham. By this time, at age fifty, Jeffrey had dedicated his life to full time spiritual teaching. He and Sandi began working together to enlighten the world providing spiritual tools of learning through seminars, books, talks, and tapes on the Vedic spiritual knowledge from India. One day, Jeffrey mentioned to Sandi the S.P.U.D. program he had previously done in Santa Cruz. As a long time resident of Vancouver, Sandi knew there were plenty of hungry people right there, so together they 
organized the first "Vancouver S.P.U.D. Patrol". In the beginning, 13 years ago, it was only the 2 of them …rain or shine, winter or summer. They would go to "Pigeon Park", the regular haunt of alcoholics, drug users, prostitutes, and the same assortment of unhappy and uncared for people who were somehow down on their luck. And in this new location, S.P.U.D. Patrol was again a great success. At every event Jeffrey spoke at, he or Sandi mentioned S.P.U.D. Patrol and as time went by others saw the simplicity of S.P.U.D. Patrol, and began to participate regularly. Whole families began to pitch in, including children. One High School in the White Rock area developed a student group doing S.P.U.D.'s in their area. "Spudding" was now well on it’s way in the Vancouver area. On some Saturdays, they gave out two thousand potatoes and the lines were still there. People often said they had not eaten in three days and they would hear more "God Bless You’s" in one day than you usually hear in a year. Everyone loves baked potatoes!
Finally the word S.P.U.D. became an acronym for Serving Potatoes to Unrecognized Devas - SPUD. The word "Deva" is from Sanskrit, the Indian sacred language and means "angel" or "divine being". SPUD patrol has become a sweet and simple way for everyday people to do something tangible to show their love for those who are suffering. SPUD patrols are now beginning in cities around both the United States and Canada. Over three thousand spuds cooked in private homes with love and devotion are given out at Christmas. Julie Blue’s choir sings Xmas carols and hands out Xmas gifts she collects in lieu of ticket sales at her December concert. Additional tables are set up to distribute used clothing, giving rise to the latest SPUD Patrol "SPUDS & Duds". Sandi and Jeffrey plan to encourage the spread of SPUD Patrol around the world. Anyone who cares can start a SPUD Patrol and begin making a difference in the lives of those who are suffering in our communities.
The Spud Patrol Mantras: |
| WHAT TO DO?
• Wrap the washed potatoes in tin foil ( HINT: you can do this the night before - load the oven and use your timer to turn them on at 10 am the next morning...and...you can completely fill the oven, just double up the potatoes and pack them tight.) |
• BAKE the potatoes at 425 -450 degrees for about 1.25 hr depending on your oven - then should be done at 11:30 am | Where:
• We meet at NOON We will be there with tables and we will serve as many people as we have potatoes. |
| When:
• The closest Saturday to the month's FULL MOON. Visit your city's page for the dates. |
Good Karma & Many Blessings,
Please Join Us...
Sandi & Jeffrey