I know it’s late…But I just have to share.

I know it’s late…But I just have to share.

When I tell you I will remember tonight for many many years to come…

Sarah, our fearless leader had a family emergency and so Patty and Mel covered Stone Soup Kitchen tonight.

We started planning on Thursday, didn’t have a volunteer group or food.

Christie helped with the financial from Marquette Bank. They picked up the entire tab for the delicious dinner we ordered from Barraccos. Italian beef sandwiches with sweet peppers and giardiniera, mostaccioli, chefs salad and desserts.

We also had a supporter and her son drop off 36 Valentine’s Day cards with hand written letters. I opened one, and it said ‘you are loved.’ So simple. So true.

And our always volunteer Joi showing up ready to serve along side, as always.

I also brought my nephew Liam to man the hot chocolate bar, he rocked it! No surprise. And my best friend of 20+ years came to help and brought her sister. Both can’t wait to be a part of a future dinner service.

And last but not least, our Guildhaus guys. We made the call on Thursday to ask for a couple guys to come help. As I walked out of the kitchen to greet those couple guys, there were SEVEN. They all heard it was for Almost Home and they all wanted to come. They did anything and everything, with a smile and a thank you.

At the end of service, I had a chance to talk to one of them, he was particularly helpful and I wanted to make sure he knew how much I appreciated him. At that moment, one of our friends who came for dinner walked up to him too. He said, ‘I really appreciate you being here tonight. I know why you’re at Guildhaus. I went down that path too. Just stick with it, ya?’ And then I proclaimed I had goosebumps, and he said he did too and we all awkwardly ran away.

I ended the night taking 4 of our homeless friends to a hotel for two nights because it is ridiculously cold. It took us 4 hotels to find one with vacancies! But they’ll all be sleeping warmly for the next couple nights.

21 guests

16 volunteers

We’re blessed.

Love and Gratitude,

Mel