Here it is, we will also be posting the actual newsletter when it is done. You can find past newsletters on the bottom of the right column under Further Reading.
At IICD, we spend a lot of time learning about the countries we will travel to and how we can help the communities we will be working with while we are there. We also recognize, however, that much help is needed in the communities here in the U.S. We have built relationships with many non-profit organizations that are doing truly amazing work in areas like Detroit, and we have also just teamed up with another great project happening right here in our town of Dowagiac.
A few of the local churches have come together and started offering free lunches to the community. They all pitch in buying the food, hosting the event, and securing volunteers to run it. At the end of October we were invited by one of the members of one of the participating churches to come and help out for one of these lunches. A group of us volunteers got up early Saturday morning (our usual day to sleep in a little bit) and caravanned into town. We arrived at the small but sweet St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, ready to cook.
Although the desserts were cooked and brought in by various members of the church and some of the prep work was done ahead of time, it was up to us and some of the church volunteers to prepare the rest of the meal, serve it to the community, and clean up afterwards. We made scrumptious Sloppy Joes and vegetarian Sloppy Joes, a fresh salad with lots of vegetables, and french fries which we fried ourselves! Once the food was ready to be served, we had volunteers to serve each of the dishes, some clearing and resetting tables so that more people could come and eat, some that were responsible for bringing more food out as we ran out, and others to sort the recycling and trash when people were finished. It was quite the system, and a very successful one at that, thanks to all of the volunteers’ hard work and cooperation.
It was really an amazing thing to be a part of. The volunteers from the churches that were there were so nice and so grateful for us being there and we all worked really well together, despite not knowing one another and coming from different backgrounds. I think we all felt a sense of camaraderie and togetherness as we worked together to pull off this really important event. The people who attended the lunch were of all different ethnicities and backgrounds and ages, and it was really humbling and fulfilling to have the opportunity to offer something to them. We served over 100 people, not including the volunteers themselves, and for some it was probably one of the only meals they ate that day. It was really a great feeling to be able to be a part of providing a hot, complete meal to people, and then to be able to sit down and enjoy it with them, all together as a community.
I think all of us got a lot out of the entire event, even the long clean up at the end. This was the beginning of a new tradition for IICD and we will be continuing to help out with these community meals once or twice a month. It is so important to be a part of change all over the world, locally and abroad.
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