This morning, I had the pleasure of going to Scott Mission with some members from my church to help serve hot meals to the homeless, the poor, the less fortunate, etc etc. Upon entering the doors at 9AM, we were warmly greeted by one of their volunteers who told us where to sign in and where to put our coats. She then put us to work immediately -there was lots to do before the doors open to the public.
The dining room was already set for the first round of meals, -they serve meals twice on Saturdays before 12Noon; each seat had a full set of plastic cutlery: knife, spoon and fork; a napkin, and a dessert pastry from Starbucks. When I saw the pastry, I knew it looked familiar, I tend to frequent Starbucks on a weekly basis. It wasn't until a conversation with a regular Scott Mission volunteer that confirmed the origins of the baked good. ALL of the food served comes from local businesses, ie. Costco, Starbucks and various bakeries. My first task involved filling the bread baskets with 6 buns each from their bread bin, which was full of breads of all sorts. According to a girl from my church, they were the typical Costco buns -I had no idea, I've never been to Costco.
After filling the bread baskets, we placed them on the tables and went on to the next task: placing 6 plates on 25 large serving trays and stacking the trays in 2 piles: 13 in one, 12 in the other. After the plates we were asked to wipe down an industrial fridge with a chlorine solution and water. Our peers were told to do the same with a different counter. Helping to clean their facilities was a humbling experience, it shows the true meaning of "serving" at a "soup kitchen" -meaning you don't just serve the food, you serve and help out in all areas of the operation.
After cleaning, we put out cans of energy drink at each seat. Again they were donated, either from a grocer or the energy drink company. -Wow, energy drink, pastry and bread... every model's and health nut's guilty pleasure and nightmare, and we haven't gotten to the main course yet! Though it may be too much carbs in my opinion, to those less fortunate, it's a necessity -carbs and sugar will give them energy and fill them up for a long period of time.
When it was close to serving the first round of meals, the cook placed a pot of hot soup at the head of each table in the dining room. Then the Scott Mission volunteers and staff, and volunteers from my church gathered together to say grace for the food. Then everyone took their assigned station, today's menu was:
-6 fried chicken nuggets
-steamed broccoli
-cold veggie pasta salad -penne with tomatoes, green peas, olives and fresh basil tossed with Newman's Own Italian Dressing
While some slid the serving trays with the 6 plates across the kitchen buffet where others placed the food on the plates, I was a server and carried the serving trays out to the dining room to the guests. The guests ate quietly and with dignity; they most ate everything -they buttered their dinner rolls with the plastic knife, drank the soup, devoured the entree. But some of the guests left their plates and pastry half eatened, sample the soup, and some even requested for a vegetarian plate... which means the old idiom is wrong: "beggers" (Note: I'm NOT calling them that!) CAN be choosers. The guests were not a rowdy bunch and they treated us with respect as we served them, and of course, we treated them kindly and with the utmost respect as well.
The guests were given a heads-up when the hour was almost up; we had to reset the tables for the second wave at 11AM. As the guests left we cleared the tables: I was assigned to pick up the plastic cutlery and bring them back to the dish washer who had them cleaned for 11AM. I helped refill the bread baskets and since we ran out of Starbucks pastries, paper cups was filled with yogurt and placed on the tables in lieu of pastries. When the tables were set, the second wave of guests came in and started their meals with soup and bread as we filled the plates in the kitchen. Again, the guests ate quietly and with dignity, and treated the servers with respect as we cheerfully and willingly served them.
After the guests left at 12Noon, we cleaned up the dining room and was invited to stay for lunch with the Scott Mission volunteers and staff. Initially, I'd thought about checking out Karine's for brunch, but after such a humbling and eye-opening experience, I decided to save Karine's for later. I wasn't too hungry so I started with an apple. But after hearing how yummy the pasta was from other volunteers, I sampled the pasta: it was delicious! (I'm going to get me a basil plant!) Eating the same food as the less fortunate says 2 things:
1. There's no double standard for food at Scott Mission, the food should be good enough for you if it's good enough for the homeless.
2. There's no difference between the givers and the receivers. We're all the same and should treat each other with love and respect. read more
