http://pledgie.com/campaigns/1204 Who are we? We are a non-profit organization specializing in transporting donated food to hundreds of organizations throughout the South West, United States. We have six diesel trucks, two Semi's, that run to Los Angeles, San Bernadino, Riverside, Phoenix, Tucson and other cities, on a weekly basis. Most of our sources are supermarket warehouses that donate over stocked, soon to be outdated or discontinued items. Locally we have several connections with farmers, wholesalers, private individuals, who donate on a regular basis. We also work with the local homeless missions and food banks. Feeding 10,000 each Month Our website, http://biofuel4food.googlepages.com/home, has pictures we've taken of just one of our sites, in Yuma, Arizona where we distribute the food. On Friday mornings nearly 50 organizatins gather to distribute the food. There is another site in San Luis, Arizona that does twice the volume. We conservatively estimate that we feed over 10,000 people each month. The organizations involved have works in California, Arizona and Mexico that help to feed the poor, orphan, widow and homeless veteran. Feeding programs for children, several orphanages, elderly feeding programs, rehab centers are the norm. One elderly couple feeds nearly 500 children every week from one location. Current Objective We are looking to build a biodiesel facility for use in our trucks. We would like to produce at least a thousand gallons of fuel each month, yet more would be superior. We need about $3,500 at this time to begin purchasing the equipment and supplies necessary. Future Plans We have plans to build several more of these biodiesel plants in major metropolitan areas so that we are able to refill, and help other non-profits with their fuel needs. Return on Investment With fuel prices near $5.00 a gallon and the cost of making the biodiesel at about $1.50 for the raw materials we could see a return on the entire investment after the first 30 days of production. Then, we will have an unlimited, cost efficient fuel source. What is biodiesel? If you've never heard of biodiesel, you're not alone. It comes in various forms and can be made from the oil in corn, soy beans, animal fat, used fyer oil and even algae. It sounds strange that you could put vegetable oil into a vehicle to make it run. But it's true. Biodiesel is made through a process called transesterification. This process makes vegetable oil and animal fat into esterified oil, which can be used as diesel fuel, or mixed with regular diesel fuel. Eco-friendly Biodiesel has been shown to produce lower tailpipe emissions than regular diesel fuel. The best thing about biodiesel is that it is made from plants and animals, which are renewable resources. Biodiesel sites: http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/ http://www.localb100.com/book.html http://forums.biodieselnow.com Iowa State University biodiesel pages http://www.me.iastate.edu/biodiesel biodiesel Suppliers: http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com http://www.b100supply.com http://www.biodieselwarehouse.com en-us