Two weeks ago, Sandy and I had the opportunity to serve at the Sonshine Soup Kitchen in Derry. After hearing her experience, I wanted to share it with the rest of the church to shed some light on this important ministry and hopefully inspire others to volunteer in March. So the rest of this blog was written by Sandy…
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“I recently had the privilege of volunteering at the Sonshine Soup Kitchen. I’ve wanted to participate since my husband, Dave, and I began attending Island Pond last February and my retirement in June, but Dave works in Boston on Tuesdays, creating a complicated transportation issue. This particular week, however, Dave’s Boston day was changed from Tuesday to Monday, so I was free to serve.
I was so happy to finally be able to join our church’s designated week to provide a meal to the hungry in and around our town. I excitedly reviewed all the procedures before heading down to “The Kitchen” and joining the team of 5-6 from our church who would prep, cook and plate a meal for 30+ guests. And I was even more excited when I was assigned to work in the kitchen. I was prepared to do whatever, but I was secretly hoping I could be in the kitchen since I LOVE to cook and bake. My excitement quickly turned to concern when I learned that, rather than 5-6 from our church who ordinarily work together on this task, there would be only two: Pastor Kyle and me. Oh boy… could we do this?! No time to think about that, although I did briefly reflect on God’s perfect timing.
At 3:15 pm were given the ingredients and told to do whatever we’d like with them, but make the plates look pretty, and be ready to serve by 4:30. Um…. but isn’t there a designated chef, I wanted to know? Yes, there is: US! I was immediately thankful for all those hours of watching Food TV! Here was the situation… we had a little over one hour to (1) decide on the menu; (2) prep and cook potatoes, butternut squash, a pork patty, and a tomato sauce; and (3) get it all on plates for quick service.
Fortunately, the giant, whole potatoes and similarly sized squash were peeled and ready to cut, dice or whatever we decided. I suggested that roasting might be easiest–Pastor Kyle went with that suggestion and he got the big ovens heating. Then we began cutting the veg and hoping they’d cook in time. Oh, and by the way, we had to pack up about 10 take-out meals that were to be delivered to home-bound folks before we could serve our guests in the dining room. Tick, tock…
Of course, there were some minor issues of potatoes and squash needing more time… but it all seemed to work out, thankfully–albeit a few minutes behind schedule. But, and here’s the good news, no one complained about the delay, and several guests asked for seconds!
Once we got into a rhythm with the plating (thanks to volunteer, Debbie, who was recruited from her role as server), we had to think about dessert. Thankfully, that was pretty easy: peaches and whipped cream. Debbie stayed on to help with this task, too. After that, and as guests finished their meals, the student volunteers began clearing tables and it was time to move to the dishwashing phase. Church, I need to tell you that, in addition to delivering spirit-filled sermons and motivating us in our relationship with Jesus (among many other duties), our Pastor took on the hardest job in the kitchen: washing all the giant pots and pans, and rinsing and getting dishes into the dishwasher. Again, it was just the two of us and Debbie, as opposed to the usual team of 5-6 at this point. Thanks be to God for His provision of our energy and stamina to get it all done!
The kitchen coordinator, Pastor Kyle and I were the last ones to leave Sonshine Kitchen right around 6pm or so. It was one of the most exhausting activities I’ve done in a while, but absolutely one of the most rewarding. If you haven’t experienced volunteering on our designated night (the fourth Tuesday of odd months), I encourage you to start planning now which month you are able to serve (March, May, July, September and November). I debriefed the evening with Dave when I returned home, and, in spite of the vision of my bedraggled self walking in the door, he was nonetheless convinced that he wanted to be there the next time. He’s taking a half vacation day on March 24 so he can help.
IPBC needs 5 to 8 volunteers each time our church takes on this ministry. This is a case of many hands making light the work. Serving in this way may be for you as it was for me: while it provided a blessing to folks in our town who are hungry, the blessing came back a hundred-fold, I promise you.
And, finally, I hope that Pastor Kyle won’t mind my offering a special shout-out to him for his example of servant leadership.”
Sandy Butters
February 2020