Buck

If you’ve never had to stop and consider where your next meal is coming from, count your blessings. I’m fortunate to work for a community-minded company, and with that comes some great opportunities to give back to Kansas City.

In lieu of an expensive employee Christmas party this year, the company instead asked employees to volunteer time from a workday (and still paid us for that volunteer time) to help one of several KC-area organizations who needed help.

Today I got to be part of something amazing: serving up a very appetizing, hot, expertly-prepared lunch for approximately 400 hungry people who stood in a very long line at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral (13th and Broadway) for the Kansas City Community Kitchen. Every weekday, the line is long and the food is hot — no questions asked, if you’re there to eat, you’ll have a good hot meal. Red tickets are handed out to each person who takes the time to show up, and they’re collected at the (non-cashier) end of the line.

A few hundred hungry people getting a great lunch.

Food is served by volunteers from a very efficient, industrial kitchen. We wore hair nets, aprons, and food-service gloves. Special attention is paid to every item, and every “section on the lunch tray” is filled with something good. When we ran out of potato salad, there was coleslaw; a giant stainless-steel dish full of grapes gave way to nectarines when it emptied out. As for me? I put a delicious-looking slice of fresh French bread topped with a schmear of butter on every tray as it passed my way. Matt, to my right, dropped one dessert from a tray of many — asking each person who came through the line how they were doing, and would they like a cookie or a poppyseed muffin or…? The mood is upbeat, the stereo was blaring Earth, Wind and Fire from the kitchen, and everyone in the room…for even a few minutes…felt like they were gathered there for this one awesome lunch.

I was amazed at the faces I saw come through that Monday lunch line — withered seniors, harried mothers, big burly men — young and old — and lots of toothless grins. The smiling ones were happy to have a delicious meal prepared for them by caring people; the grumpy ones probably hadn’t eaten much over the weekend. One man was on his way to a job interview — he got his lunch “to go” because he couldn’t stay and eat there.

In the time we were there, the chef estimated we fed 300+ people; the line of folks coming in from outside — tickets in hand — kept right on coming as we seamlessly switched to another shift of employees who took the reins for the next hour.

This was a real eye-opener for me. From the minute we walked in, we were given clear direction as volunteers; we knew exactly what to do, and everyone scurried around us to keep the fresh food coming. From the president of the company who dished up pasta and sausage on the far left, to the director of new business development who collected sporks/cups/napkins into one cohesive package all the way to my right (and a few of us in between!), we were a formidable team. A few hundred people had a great lunch today. It turned out to be a beautiful day anyway, with 60 degree weather and a Chiefs upset victory yesterday — made even better by the efforts of a whole lot of cooks, dishwashers, and organizers who kept the conversation and the steamed vegetables flowing the entire time.

If you’re ever looking for a great project to take on during your lunch hour, contact Episcopal Community Services. Having just one person look you in the eye, smile a toothless smile, and say, “thank you for volunteering today — I really appreciate it,” can really make your day. You should give it a try.

www.episcopalcommunity.org