December 9, 2009

Hello one and all.

This past Tuesday, were we asking for it, courting danger, pushing our luck, tempting fate?
I am notorious for getting to the gas station with only one km of gas to go or departing for the day with only one power bar on my cell phone, or leaving the house without an umbrella on a cloudy day.  Yesterday, I even drove white knuckled to Waterloo (with a full tank of gas) in that horrible winter storm testing fate again.

At OOTC, we are not in the practice of tempting fate. There is usually plenty of soup and food to satisfy the multitudes (110 last night) of guests and their appetites which seem more likely to expand in the winter months, as Sister Carole Anne told me today. To do something which involves a risk and may cause something unpleasant to happen, is really foolish, and unthinkable!

We came soooo close to not having enough food!  The four hearty pots of soup disappeared faster than pots of Tim Hortons’ coffee, but I think everyone got some. We were a bit stressed that someone would have found a stray chicken bone in the soup and would need the Heimlich manoever, but again we tempted fate and served it.

The EIGHT huge trays of shepherd’s pie were sliced away to nothing!  I was sure that the tossed salad would be plentiful but it was GONE too…. We even ran out of the milk for the coffee and tea.
SOMEONE must be watching over us! Maybe we have banked some really good karma or maybe our volunteer servers and cooks know their jobs all too well by now, but in the future, we will be trying to have leftovers.  Pastor Don from JSB has identified some shut-ins at the YMCA who may not be eating as well as they should. Therefore, we will be leaving our nutritious offerings for him to take to the Y each Wednesday from now on.

One familiar guest, Joseph, who is not a shut-in but graces us with his presence periodically from the Y mentioned that he is in need of a newish good quality single mattress, box spring and frame. Actually he said he would be grateful for anything but I know, that at his age, his body would benefit with higher quality. He has been a true friend of our program, a man who has done much to try to equalize and humanize the plight of the disadvantaged by sitting on the boards of anti-poverty groups. Let me know if you can help.

Next week, we will be serving totally delicious “Jewish fare”  including brisket and latkes and cupcakes with the glow of the hanukkiah present.

Hope you’ll be there. Happy Hanukkah.

Cindy