Let's Do Lunch

Yesterday six friends and I made our way downtown for our semi-annual time of serving lunch to the homeless.

Six of them lined up to serve. This may sound like an easy task but when you're trying to serve 300 to 400 people in an hour - it's a fun but pressure filled hour. As I've told you before, when the hour is over - it's over. And it's really sad to see guests still in line who aren't going to get fed.

So we worked fast!

Some people think the hardest job is pouring the soup. Pouring hot soup really fast can be scary. Others think the hardest job is serving drinks - because you're not behind the counter - you're out with the people.

I was chosen to serve drinks yesterday. I loved it. Lots more chances to have little interchanges with the guests. We're not supposed to grant special favors but when somebody wants you to fill their battered old plastic bottle with ice water it's hard to say no.

But then you get behind with the other 300 plus drinks.

All in all it was a joyful, extremely meaningful, humbling experience. The vast majority of the homeless people are kind and polite to us rookies. It's fun to be kind and polite back.

Afterwards the seven of us went to a restaurant and had salads. You might think that we ate better than the homeless. Not true! They had all kinds of breads and rolls, soup, veggies, rice and what looked like chicken and gravy.

But a worker there told us it was EMU and gravy. I guess it taste like chicken because nobody complained.


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