Yesterday’s #StoneSoupKitchen had to look a little bit different.
Yesterday’s #StoneSoupKitchen had to look a little bit different.
We couldn’t host our guests inside, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t still feed them. Canceling #SSK would mean some friends would show up expecting to eat, and have to leave hungry.
And that was not an option.
We also had the luxury of an amazingly understanding volunteer group who still wanted to serve the food to our friends. They set up an operation downstairs to serve to-go dinners of hotdogs with chips. They also prepared pb&j lunches for our guests to take.
We had a line of people from upstairs at the front door, all the way to basement kitchen. Loretta or I would holler how many orders are needed to one of the kids on the stairs, and they’d go down and get the prepared to-go dinner(s) and bring it up to us to give to our friends outside.
Most of our friends still needed items from the Loaves and Fishes Closet. So we ushered them in one at a time to our Anne Marie Williams. She would intake, help them get what they need and then I’d send in the next family. We even had hand signals so I knew if she was ready for the next family.
And it doesn’t end there. Because the pantry wouldn’t of been filled for service if not for the MVP of volunteers upstairs, in the hot storage room. While seemingly organized chaos was happening on the main level, AnnMarie Gleason was busy checking expiration dates, taking inventory, and beautifully organizing our overflow stock. Joi and I planned to use the hours between Narcan Training and SSK to organize and restock our Loaves and Fishes closet. We desperately needed to get our oldest stuff on the shelves downstairs, and get an accurate sense of what we needed more of, upstairs. AnnMarie G prepared a basket of items, I’d carry it down the double flight of stairs. Bringing it into the office where Joi and I would unload it onto our shelves. Back up I would go with an empty basket, and note of the next 2 items to focus on. Rinse Repeat, approximately 27 more times. I cannot convey to you, the absolute synergy I had working with these ladies yesterday and how much we accomplished in those 2 hours.
I am tired. But grateful for a successful day yesterday. Grateful that Sarah has so much trust in us to get it handled. And as always, grateful for the opportunity to serve my community.
Sincerely,
Mel