An Easter Lunch

Longtime volunteer Dorrie ready to serve two plates of Black Forest ham and mashed potatoes at the start of today's meal.

We served a special Easter lunch today at The Wednesday Community Meal and our guests loved it. Everyone was treated to a meal of premium Black Forest ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, baked apples and soft white rolls along with soup, salad and apple crisp for dessert.

But that's not all, there was a special welcome and prayer led by Rev. Jim Bethell, music courtesy of our volunteer piano player Sandy Norcross and Easter candy handed out by our wonderful Listening Post volunteers who went table to table with Easter baskets.

One of our regular guests told me today, "Holidays are especially hard because I'm alone but being here makes me feel better. Everyone is so nice to me."

Being a part of the Wednesday Community Meal makes me feel better too. Volunteering each week grounds me and helps me put my life and my needs in perspective.

Can you imagine not having a home? — No place to sleep, get clean, go to the bathroom or keep your things?  A few years ago, I walked out to my car after volunteering and saw a guest shaving his face in the parking lot, peering into a broken full-length mirror that was leaning against a building.

"It's my lucky day, I'm so glad this mirror is here," he told me.  It was an image and a statement that I'll never forget and reminds me to be more appreciative of comforts in my life that are so easy to take for granted.

With the support of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, The Wednesday Community Meal has become a much needed place of comfort and weekly respite for so many.  It's a place to be greeted, feel welcomed, cared for and nourished. We served 359 meals today.

Fred, who is a founder and organizer of the Wednesday Community Meal, shopping at Cash 'n' Carry this past Tuesday for ingredients. That day, we also picked up our special order of Black Forest ham from SP Provisions.

Andy slicing ham with Leah and Martha supervising.  These three volunteers are kitchen VIPs. They are among the first to arrive in the morning and work nonstop until the end of service. And, they are a lot of fun!

Today's dessert was homemade apple crisp made by volunteer Cheryl. It was delicious!

Honoring David

We set a special place for David at today's Wednesday Community Meal.

In addition to serving 238 lunches, we held a memorial service during today's Wednesday Community Meal for our friend and regular guest David, who we lost two weeks ago.

David was very fond of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and told me many times how much he loved the community meal, the church and how nice everyone was to him. He was a kind and gentle man who was very easy to love and care about. We had to acknowledge him.

So during the lunch service today, we honored David with a short and sweet memorial filled with song, prayer and homemade cookies.  In attendance were family members and friends from Trinity, the community meal and the street. The Reverend Jim Bethell officiated the service and accompanied by Sandy Norcross on the piano, community meal volunteers Cheryl Richardson and Ukiah Hawkins led us in singing the hymns "Morning Has Broken" and "Amazing Grace."

The service also included an Irish Prayer chosen by The Reverend Raggs Ragan that couldn't have been more perfect for our dear friend:

O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our brother David. We thank you for giving him to us, his Church family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

David, may you always walk in sunshine,

and God's love around you flow.

For the happiness you gave us,

no one will ever know.

It broke our hearts to lose you,

but you did not go alone.

A part of us went with you,

the day God called you home.

A million times we've needed you,

a million times we've cried.

If love could only have saved you,

you never would have died.

So, David, rest now in God's peace-

that peace which passes all comprehension.

David

I lost a friend today.

I first met David more than six years ago when he began hanging out near Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and eating at The Wednesday Community Meal. He was always very friendly, talkative and curious about what I was going to be cooking.

David liked to cook too, having worked in restaurants, and would share his stories with me. His all-time favorite food was beef stroganoff and I think he must have asked me fifty times or more when I was going to serve it at the community meal. I told him I promised to make it if I ever got a donation of steak and mushrooms in the same week.  "I'm looking forward to it," he would say.

Finally after years of waiting, Phil's Uptown Meat Market donated a small container of already-made beef stroganoff,  just enough for one giant serving for my friend. I was so excited and couldn't wait to surprise him. "Wow do I feel special," he said when I gave it to him. "You are special," I said.

David was a regular at the Wednesday meal and when he didn't show up, I worried because I knew he lived and slept outside and his life was hard. He suffered from alcoholism, seizures and abuse. One day he showed up at Trinity with hands down the worst black eye I had ever seen. "I was beat up during the night," he said. He told me Trinity was the place he felt the safest.

Despite all his suffering, David somehow remained gentle and kind. He reached out to me and wouldn't leave a Wednesday meal without stopping by the kitchen window to smile and say "thank you." 

David was found dead this morning of exposure. He was only 54 years old and had dreams of one day having his own apartment.

It's so much easier to find public assistance in this country if you are female or a senior citizen. David was in great need of help but he fell through the cracks of our system and sadly he's not alone. By my estimate, more than 80-percent of our guests on Wednesday are men between the ages of 30 and 60. This is not equality. 

We served 285 meals today and for two hours our guests were able to be comfortable and warm, but what about now? It's night, it's cold and it's raining.