Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church
Date: Wednesday, February 04, 2015; 5:45-8:30 pm
I arrived to find that there was a partition in the main
dining room. Marianne said that it was
for “Spirit Feeding” program where
the students from ‘Moody Bible Institute’
do Bible study with the guests. Keith
was in the kitchen and he referred to me by a different name as usual. Marianne asked me how many desserts Wilson was
going to get through his volunteers for the ‘Valentine’s
Day’ party next week. I said that I
would ask him and he replied saying that 10-15 volunteers would be getting 1-2
dozen pieces each. Well, if that was
true then we would not be short of desserts for sure.
 |
| The industrial sized can opener |
Marianne put me on can duty, opening cans of tomatoes,
draining the juice and then giving it to the team making the pasta. I had some trouble using the industrial grade
can opener and one volunteer tried showing me how to do it…and failed. Marianne had to come and explain how it
worked and I was on my way. I opened
multiple cans and drained as requested.
As I sent them, Keith kept saying that we needed more cans, then less,
then more, then less, and then he said let’s just do everything. As he did that, he was dancing to some music
station which was playing Michael Jackson songs.
I also opened some big cans which seemed to have “Marinara” type sauce and then some cans
of corn. Little Hannah was here and we mixed
the corn with butter and then Keith came and put some of his “secret” spices on it. I put the seasoned corn in 8 inch pan and then into a steamer. I chatted with Hannah and she told me that she
had scored 100/100 in her ‘Math’
exam, though she was ticked off that she had scored 199/200 in ‘Choir’.
It’s always amazing to be reminded that she’s still in school. A couple of new volunteers were working on
the salad and I teased Hannah that since she was so good in ‘Math’, she should count the 18 bowls for
me! She’s a good sport about all of
this.
There weren’t as many volunteers today, though some regulars
like Joe and John were present. Marianne
was looking for me to help out everywhere, and she sent me off to get bread
from the warmer so that the 2 new volunteers could put garlic butter on it. Since these 2 were the only new volunteers,
Keith did a private introduction for them. I
said that in my 2 years this was the first time that I had seen him doing this
private session. Marianne still did her
part by getting everyone together and then told us about the “Spirit Feeding” which was going on outside. This place is supported by ‘GCFD’ and they don’t want anyone to “promote” religion as a reason for
people to get dinner. So over here they
do it prior to dinner and in a separate area.
Once dinner service starts, they remove the partition and then it’s a
normal dining room.
Marianne assigned duties and initially I was on juice, but
then was moved over to serving. The menu
for this evening was “Meatballs with Spaghetti
and Meat Sauce with corn and garlic bread” and that looked quite
hearty. I served the salad and then came
back to serve corn and bread. I had to
move rapidly and once the plate was complete, I put it on the tray rack where
some other volunteers took it out to the guests. While we were serving, the music was on and one
of the guests was singing with gusto. Once
the first round was done, I moved to the back of the counter to count the second's. A long line had already formed and looked
like the guests had enjoyed their dinner.
After serving I usually help with the cleaning up front, but
today Marianne wanted me in the back to help John with the washing. He looked a bit flustered today and that was
perhaps due to the shortage in volunteers.
He showed me how to stack glasses and for next 30 minutes I put away clean glasses, pitchers, plates and bowls in cabinets while he cleaned. It
was the busiest I have been here over here and I learned to appreciate what
happens in the kitchen during clean-up. I
wiped down the counters, cleaned sinks, and was finally done by 8:30 pm. I told Marianne that I would come for the
party on the 13th and would even wear a suit. She thanked me and I left after saying bye to
all the people who have become familiar.
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