Photo by Randy Pench/ [email protected]

SACRAMENTO, CA – David Frederick has been coming to Loaves & Fishes off and on since 2000. When Frederick arrived early Monday to the site of the Sacramento homeless shelter and advocacy organization, he hoped to be served a hot meal.

Meatloaf or chicken. Maybe even beef stew.

Instead, volunteers slowly called those seeking a meal, such as Frederick, to a back parking lot in groups. Here, an all-star lineup of area food trucks were parked in a formation encircling the asphalt: Krush Burgers, Drewski’s, Swabbie’s, Gameday Grill, BaconMania, Chando’s Tacos and Simply Southern Food.

Each of the seven gourmet food trucks had donated 100 meals. Starting at 11:30 a.m., roughly 650 homeless men, women and children who sought meals from Loaves & Fishes were able to choose which vendor’s food to have for lunch. They ate on fold-up tables as music played.

“It’s almost like being at the State Fair,” Frederick said, between bites of Krush Burgers’ smoked pork shoulder, served with fries and topped with whole-grain mustard slaw. “That’s kind of what this reminds me of.”

A coalition of independent parties worked to coordinate Monday’s surprise.

First, there was Sacramento City Councilman Darrell Fong, who said he was delivering water to Loaves & Fishes one day when he dreamed up the idea of a food truck event for the homeless community.

Fong arranged a meeting with Ernie Hernandez and Paul Somerhausen, who runs Sacto MoFo, which coordinates mobile food events in the Sacramento region. Hernandez and Somerhausen jumped on board after the meeting in Fong’s office roughly 11/2 months ago.

“We loved the idea right away,” Somerhausen said.

The two businessmen then started to secure commitments from local food trucks to prepare and serve meals at the event.

Somerhausen said this part of the job wasn’t difficult.

“The food trucks have been very grateful for the support of the community,” Somerhausen said. “Keep in mind: Two years ago, there weren’t any gourmet food trucks in Sacramento. They have come a long way in those two years, so this was an opportunity to return the generosity.”

Find the entire article by Kurt Chirbas at The Sacramento Bee <here>