Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Date: Saturday, May 31, 2014; 9:00
am-12:30 pm
A few years ago, I had never imagined that there would be
any reason for me to go to Lincoln, Nebraska.
It’s not as if the city is known for its “Broadway Shows” or sprawling skyline. But things change and I met a friend who
calls it home, and I made a promise to someday visit with them. However, at the risk of repeating the same
phrase; things change. But a promise is
a promise, even if it meant that I would have to make another one of my trips
by myself. Well, maybe some things
remain the same. I have volunteered at
places outside of Chicago before, like the breakfast project at Hartford last
Christmas and my visit to Boston for the marathon. I wanted to do the same while in Lincoln,
because it was something my friend would have appreciated. So I looked online and found ‘People’s City Mission’. On their website they said, “Our mission is to be a witness for Christ
among the poor and homeless, serve their needs, and advocate their cause to the
community at large.” This was
definitely something I could respect and so I wrote to them, saying that I
would be in the city and would be honored to come and help in any capacity that
I could. I heard back from the volunteer
coordinator Michele and she welcomed my request. After a few email exchanges, we settled on me
coming to help with the lunch service on Saturday morning from 9 am to noon.
 |
| It was a strange location |
After exploring a bit of the Saturday street market, I made
my way to the location, once again trusting my ‘GPS’. As I walked towards
my destination, the roads became unpaved and it looked like I was entering an
abandoned industrial park. I was
questioning if I was in the right place, when I saw a sign for the mission. I went inside and checked-in with the lady at
reception, who asked me what duty I was reporting for. It seems like there were several tasks
associated with the lunch service and in order to send me to the right place, I
had to be more precise. Michele wasn’t
in, so I just said that I was supposed to be in the kitchen. She took me inside and introduced me to a
gentleman named Randy, who was in charge and was expecting me. I washed up and after putting on my apron,
hairnet and gloves, I was introduced to a good-natured young man James, who
would be directing me today.
The first task he allocated was cutting sweet potatoes and
for that purpose, presented me with a selection of knives to choose from. Now, there are chefs for whom a perfectly
balanced knife is critical, but I am not one of them. I picked one and was then directed to a giant
sink, into which he poured a huge box of sweet potatoes and immersed them in
water. I was to extract them one at a
time, remove any strings that were attached, chop off the ends and then cut
into two pieces. If the potato was
bigger, then I was to cut along the length as well. I hate estimations and I knew that at the end
of this exercise, I would be lucky to have two pieces of the same size! They needed 3 big pans filled with the
potatoes and for the next 90 minutes, that’s exactly what I did.
 |
| My sweet potatoes |
Randy reminded me a lot of Keith from ‘Wells Street Café’ in a way that while he would appear to be
whimsical at times, he was in complete control of the kitchen. He asked me about how I had gotten involved
and I told him about my history with Chicago Cares. He then told me about the place I was
at. Opened in 1907, ‘People’s Mission’ is a shelter for men, women and children in
transition and they can stay there for however long it took for them to land on
their feet. It is one of the only 3 such
facilities in the nation and is not government funded, since their chairman
does not want government micromanaging their activities. Randy said that he treats the guests as you
would treat any other guest and in fact served them “Prime Rib” the previous week.
He really was Keith of this place and I mentioned about Keith’s speech
at the beginning of each service on how to treat our guests. Randy told me how they recycle everything and
how nothing is wasted. People donate a
lot of things to the mission, including cars, which the guests can use as per
their need. He mentioned that residents
usually do chores around the mission while they look for jobs. He said that he had seen some outstanding
young men who had been prior residents, now giving back to the mission and that
was the true measure of the program’s success.
I asked about the menu for today and he said that Saturday’s lunch was
usually leftovers. The sweet potatoes
that I was chopping were for dinner, where they would accompany “Baked Ham”. So there was no rush for me to be done, which
was good since I was the only kitchen helper this morning, with a few “no-shows”. I looked around and saw through some pictures
and comments that Randy was well liked over here, and he deserved it too.
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| And my tomatoes |
I was finally done with 3 pans of sweet potatoes and the
next job was to slice tomatoes. They were of different types and sizes and
while I was slicing them in discs, James asked me to save the tops which have
the stems in them and something that I usually discard. I tried to be consistent with my discs, but
let’s face it, that was a stretch. I
went through a lot of tomatoes and it was a miracle that I had gotten this far
without an accident! Next, James told me
to take all the tops that we had saved and to work around the stems and dice
the edible part. They truly use
everything here and based on the amount that I eventually collected, I could
see why. I had filled up half a
container with parts of tomatoes which I would have thrown out. Now they were going into a meal. Life lessons are everywhere, waiting to be
learnt.
It was getting close to lunch time and other volunteers had
started filtering in. They were to be
the servers and I could see through their banter with Randy that they were
regulars over here. The dining area was
getting filled with families and I could see a lot of kids. I was done with my tomatoes and so I walked
into the dining area to see that it was a similar “café style” setup like the few that I have seen in Chicago. The only difference was that in this case the
guests walked over to the serving stations and were served, rather that plates
being brought to them. The merits of
this system are that people get what they want and there is minimum wastage.
It was time for me to be on my way and Randy offered for me
to eat with the other volunteers. I said
that I couldn't stay and he shook my hand and thanked me for coming. I wished him and James luck and told them
that if I was ever back in town, I would stop by. I had worked hard on this one and had been on
my feet without a break for over 3 and half hours. But I liked it. I liked the fact that they do not offer
special privileges to volunteers, let alone visiting ones. I had been treated like one of them and there
is no greater compliment than that. I
would be leaving Lincoln a far better …more knowledgeable person, than the one
who had come here to fulfill a promise.
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