[Community-Service] Where's The Talent?

[Maggie Stringer]

It’s National Novel Writing month! And we want to acknowledge dedicated
volunteers that enjoy the art of writing, those who are aspiring to become
an author, and the talented men and women who are already published!



You already know the topic, COMMUNITY SERVICE!

Write a short or long piece, it can be fictional or non. Just make it your
own!

You write it, and we’ll share it!



Here’s our first piece written by

Shelley J. Alongi



THE KITCHEN QUEEN

One of my dreams in life till recently has been to own a restaurant. It is
through the wonderful opportunities over the years volunteering in kitchens
that I have learned just how much work that can be. I have volunteered over
the last ten to twenty years for some great projects centering around the
kitchen. These opportunities surround food and meeting people. No matter
how large or small the task, the experience has always been rewarding. The
kitchen fits me to a Tee. I've cooked in California, Mississippi, and north
Texas.



I could never dream up in a million years as a writer of novels and
articles the opportunities presented to me for volunteering in my local
community in north Texas. Seven years ago, when I moved to this small town,
I would not have imagined that I could cook in a kitchen once every two
weeks as a volunteer. I love cooking.  I had volunteered as a cook before
at a California university when I lived there making 80 hamburgers a week
for a local Christian club whose mission was to feed people and present the
gospel. I had a food handler's card and got it with some trepidation on the
part of officials but everything worked out fine. Moving to north Texas,
leaving my steady job that wasn't covering my high rent I relocated here at
the urging of friends from childhood and found this local church two blocks
from where I ended up living. Every two weeks I get to walk to the church
and turn the lights on in a kitchen where basically I am the queen. Every
second Tuesday and fourth Saturday of the month I open the refrigerator and
take out a big pot of prepared beans and warm them up on a stove. I then
make a big pan of cornbread. The remainder of my job is to clean up the
kitchen, keep the snack table supplied, and talk to the people who come
into the kitchen to ask for beans. All around me people talk and joke,
making a bevy of crowd noises. Imagine a 50 by 30 room full of tables and
chairs and people spread out comfortably filling out papers in order to
receive personal care items. People using walkers and scooters, in addition
to small children, all inhabit the same space talking to each other, phones
ringing, laughter drifting across the room. At the table where people sign
in, the clients update the workers on their personal lives.



Several years before I moved to north Texas a church for which I would
eventually play piano on Sundays and direct the choir all for pay dreamed
up a program where people from the community who are looking for work or
just trying to make ends meet would come in and receive twelve personal
care items every thirty days: toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, soap, many
things you might consider a "personal care" item. You can imagine that
these items are not too low cost in some instances, especially at the
current rates of inflation. This program is set up by one local church and
supplements the food bank which is a joint effort of other churches. This
program has been in operation under the care of six to eight people who
show up twice a month to greet people, sign them in, listen to their prayer
requests and dramas and conduct conversations.



When I first arrived at the church as their newly minted pianist I heard
about this opportunity and knew it was for me. After a year of serving as a
table worker I learned that they needed someone in the kitchen. They had a
man in the kitchen, but he was required to do double duty as an order
filler. What they needed was someone to staff the kitchen for the entire
three-hour time slot on each day the church was open for this project. They
considered hiring someone. I knew this was the perfect volunteer space for
me. It was the perfect size and at the perfect time each week. I told the
organizers I would take on the job and haven't looked back for three
years.



Besides cooking for the university club, I had definitely acquired some
kitchen skills on a gargantuan level before moving to north Texas. After
hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast states of Mississippi, Alabama
and Louisiana on August 29, 2005, I went on a trip with the church I
attended at the time to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi and served meals to
people who were rebuilding their houses. There were some amazing stories I
remember from that experience. One man whose family owned two houses on
separate sides of the railroad tracks had lost both in the storm. During
dinner one night we learned that a family who was not formally acquainted
with this man had lived in one of the houses. Two families who
independently had experienced loss and who had benefited from the property
owned by one of them were seated at the same table, both were involved in
restoring separate properties not related to those houses. They may never
have met without such a tragedy to bring them together.



Hundreds of cups of coffee and conversations brought a community together.
One man I met who worked on oil rigs on the Gulf coast and I keep
responding to the phrase "that's amazing." We heard that phrase so much
that we applied it to everything we said. We ended our conversations no
matter the subject with "that's amazing."



My first experience in Mississippi almost directly after getting off the
plane was serving dinner out of ice-chest sized serving pots called
cumbrous. Imagine serving food out of your 24-can picnic cooler and you
will have a small idea of the size and shape of the serving pans. Imagine
washing those in huge sinks full of hot, soapy water.



Seventeen years later, after much more experience cooking for church
potlucks, planning food for parties and such, I found myself here in this
small town with the perfect-sized kitchen. There are lots of stories to be
told about this place. After several years of serving one particular
client, we learned that she has recently become engaged to a local town
celebrity. We've talked to people who have lost friends and family members
to diseases and death. The passage of time strengthens bonds, and teaches
me their names. When I sold coffee and donuts as a volunteer in California,
an undertaking that helped buy the food for the hamburger feed I cooked
for, I learned to ask repeat customers their names. Here, in this place, I
have learned that some of those who come in for items live near me or even
across the street. We are all connected to each other in some way,
especially in this small town.



One particular woman with a large personality comes into my kitchen and
asks for meat in the beans. She shows up and I say: "Are you ready for
beans?"

"Yes," she says. "Give me some meat."

I tell her that I can't always promise that meat will be in the beans.
There are a million different ways to make the standard beans with ham.
Some people include more meat than others. No matter the amount of meat in
the beans, I never fail to get a compliment to pass along to the lady in
the church who prepares them each time. Rarely do we have left overs. I
always feel happy that I'm not responsible for making the beans that way. I
don't have to worry about whether someone makes the beans the way they like
them. I only serve them. Everyone is always grateful for the meal, even the
lady who asks for meat.



We have people who come just to eat our beans. Sometimes people say they
have already eaten before coming to the church so they take them home with
them. I'm all about making sure people eat.



The operation at the local church here isn't quite as huge as the one in
Mississippi was so many years ago, but it is consistent and sometimes
exhausting. It is ultimately rewarding, especially when I consider that I
uprooted myself from my home in California and moved here not quite sure
where I would end up. This opportunity found me and fits my love and
passion perfectly. I've decided that I probably don't really want to cook
for a restaurant every day of the week, but this volunteer opportunity has
taught me that and also gives me a feeling of helping my local community
and participating in an effort that brings a lot of interaction and
pleasure to me. We're all out to help each other and if I can be a cog in
the wheel that makes this operation successful then I am very happy, indeed.


#NOVELWRITINGMONTH

#COMMUNITYSERVICEDIVISION


Maggie Stringer
Phone: (443) 750-0070
Email: ravensfan784 at gmail.com
Community Service Facebook Page
<https://www.facebook.com/CommunityServiceDivision/>
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/community-service_nfbnet.org/attachments/20221110/e66e8e52/attachment.html>