<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Thank you for sharing Shelley! I love your story of how you serve. Simply Amazing!! <br><br><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0in;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jeanetta Price, M. Ed. <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0in;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mauney & Associates Home Study Contractor<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0in;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Phone: 409-344-1005 </b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0in;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></b></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply-e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">***<u>Privacy Notice</u>: Privacy is important to us! PII (Personally Identifiable Information) such as an SSN, DOB as well as any DFPS case related information via email is strictly prohibited. Do not send any PII to this email address without email security/encryption enabled! <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p></p></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Nov 10, 2022, at 3:43 PM, Maggie Stringer via Community-Service <community-service@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">You already know the topic, COMMUNITY SERVICE!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">Write a short or long piece, it can be fictional or
non. Just make it your own!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">You write it, and we’ll share it!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">Here’s our first piece written by</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">Shelley J. Alongi</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">THE KITCHEN QUEEN</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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." </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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?" </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">"Yes," she says. "Give me some
meat." </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">#NOVELWRITINGMONTH</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%">#COMMUNITYSERVICEDIVISION</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Maggie Stringer</span></p><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Phone: (443) 750-0070<br>Email: <a href="mailto:ravensfan784@gmail.com" target="_blank">ravensfan784@gmail.com</a><br><div><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommunityServiceDivision/" target="_blank">Community Service Facebook Page</a><br></div><div>“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."<br></div></div></div></div></div>
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