Dinner At The Wells Street Cafe

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, October 01, 2014; 5:45-8:30 pm

Galen wrote to me asking if I could help lead since she was sick and that’s never a good thing at a cooking project.  I arrived and saw that the ‘Moody Bible Institute’ students were already there, though there was no sign of Keith.  Someone mentioned that he was out shopping, which was cutting it a bit close.  He eventually arrived and immediately started allocating duties, saying that he wanted to get the Cornbread into the oven ASAP.  I learned that Marianne wasn’t going to be here this evening and that explained why Keith was looking so flustered.  He always seems to be struggling for time whenever he has to go solo.

The Cornbread...before

Galen came in and handed me the sign-up sheets and then left immediately.  Only 2 out of the other 4 Chicago Cares volunteers had come and Keith put all of us towards making the Cornbread.  There was an industrial sized mixer that we were supposed to use and Keith handed us his “secret recipe book” saying that if there was any question, we should just ask him.  We added the flour, sugar, eggs and milk into the mixer and then Keith asked me to put 2 sticks of butter into pans and insert into the oven to melt.  He said that I should keep an eye on it and not let it burn.  I got the butter out after a while and he said that this was his secret ingredient.  One of the volunteers added the contents of the mixture from the bowl into the two pans and we were ready to bake.  But for some reason Keith did not give us instructions to put the pans into the oven and so we did not.  Of course, later he said that we were wasting time and I mentioned that he had never told us to start baking and I had interpreted it has us having to add another “secret ingredient”!  Aah Keith.

We finally got the Cornbread in and I chatted with one of the other Chicago Cares volunteers who was visiting this place for the first time.  The fruit cans were being opened for the salad and once again, Keith wanted the right containers to be used.  Since he had to empty a bowl, he took the juice/syrup from the cans that was already in there and drank it!  I said that it must be disgustingly sweet and he said that he liked it.  He said that initially he had thought about adding that syrup into the juice that we serve, but since almost all of our guests do not get adequate nutrition, adding more corn syrup may not be a good idea.  Well, Keith does not have a problem with that and mentioned that right from birth we are in the process of dying, so why not!  The salads were done and Keith was now admonishing a guy who had just asked him something related to the cooking of the rice.  I said that he himself had encouraged people to ask him questions if they didn't know and so he should not be yelling at them when they did so.  He laughed, acknowledging his mistake, and no one over here really minds this.  Everyone knows that even though he may appear to be a hard task master, the reality is that Keith is a great guy.

...and after

The bread was baking, and Keith got us all together for his chat.  He told the new comers about the respect that we owe to our guests.  He then mentioned about everyone’s personal space and how sometimes there are incidences that happen and if so, he will take care of it.  He then repeated that we serve the hungry, not the homeless and it’s important to remember that hunger does not take a break.  John, who is a regular here, was fulfilling Marianne’s role and so allocated duties for the evening, wherein I offered to plate.  Besides the Cornbread, the main course was Pork & Beans.  We formed an assembly line with one person handing me a plate of rice on which I put a generous helping of Pork & Beans and then another volunteer added the Cornbread.  It was smelling amazing and I tried a piece. It was as advertised, another Kieth special.

Once the initial wave was done, I chatted with the ‘Moody Bible’ student next to me, who at a very young age said that she had found her life’s calling, which was to serve people.  I told her how fortunate I was to meet people like her during these projects.  We had very few requests for seconds and so there was a lot of food left over, which the volunteers took home.  The clean-up was done fast and so we could leave earlier.  One of the reasons for the fast service was that we had fewer guests than usual.  Keith mentioned that it was because it’s the 1^st of the month and since many people had gotten paid, they were probably doing something else like going to a motel for a hot bath.  It is incredible how some of the things that we usually take for granted can mean so much for so many.  I left after a brief period of reflection with my Chicago Cares volunteers and after bidding the regulars goodbye for the month.  I have really become fond of this group and look forward to coming back. Hopefully Marianne will be back next month to provide her much needed support.