The challenge was both ambitious and clear:
- · Purchase, prepare a and serve a hot meal to 70+ youth by 5:30 PM.
- · Include seasonal organic vegetables that will be palatable to urban fast-food-fed youth.
- · Direct and empower 8-10 student leaders to plate, serve and clear a 3-course meal.
- · Reflect honestly on the evening, making recommendations assembling a handful of recipes to be used by future volunteer cooks.
Riley and Ashley, my brother and sister-in-law were up for
the challenge. Even though it meant
taking a plane ride to get here. A
lawyer by trade, Riley has a love for cooking and revels in making “blow-out”
meals for 4-8 people. Ashley, a small
business owner, plans and executes events to raise funds for non-profits in the
Bay Area. Her breadth of experience in
pulling off large events would prove advantageous in our context.
They woke that Monday morning ready to rock.
Game-time butterflies swarmed their insides. This would be an uphill climb.
Between the sips of coffee, the questions kept coming:
“How will we heat things without an oven?”
“What vegetables have you served in the past at UrbanLife?”
“Do you know where I can buy some faro (a grain)?”
“Is fish totally out of the question?”
“Will we have help getting the food out?”
It felt like we were living the opening scene of America’s Top Chef.
Once the coffee was finished, Riley was racing through
aisles of Whole Foods. He bought all the
faro they had in stock. He made the
critical decision to supplement faro with wheat berries. Ashley and her sister (my wife) happily
helped load down a cart at Costco, full of items ranging from persimmons to M
& Ms.
Before lunchtime, Riley was grilling chicken breasts over
briquettes in my back patio with his shirt off. And by the time school let out, they were
shuttling containers of food over to the UrbanLife property.
Before students flooded the building, Riley and Ashley were
working at full-tilt: Riley taught student leaders about food presentation and
then used each of them to assemble the main course, using an example plate as a
model. Ashley was busy organizing the
servers, assigning them tables and reviewing the order of service.
Full. Tilt.
When students rushed through the doors, it must have felt
like a formal family dinner with the extended family. The hugs, welcome of the volunteer leaders,
and the plated food, all announced “Family Here!”
They sat down to a plated mixed green salad, garnished with fresh persimmons and touched with a
citrus vinaigrette.
In short order, students were served a faro grain bowl, topped with grilled chicken breast, butternut squash, feta
cheese, vine-ripe tomatoes and an olive oil drizzle. “Don’t forget the S
and P!” shouts Riley. Salt and
pepper. They remembered.
While the evening’s food may as well have been foreign
cuisine to students, most of them devoured it.
A few of them raved about it. My
favorite comment came from Courtney: “When I get rich, you are going to be my
personal chef!”
Um…I guess Courtney.
Adults in the room knew what they got that night. They were effusive in their praise.
............................................................................................
Seeing the Hurds step up to this challenge was
entertaining.
Much more than that though, it was meaningful----for all
parties.
As director of this ministry, I (Justin) felt loved and supported in my work. I caught a vision for how this time can be
even more welcoming and nourishing to the souls and bodies of our students.
Students felt
cared for and nurtured. It was clear.
Riley and Ashley
felt emboldened in the act of serving.
We are all created with an intrinsic desire to serve, which is activated
when we actually do it. Whether it is a
rush of dopamine or a breath from God, we are reinforced somehow in our
serving. That’s because we are living
into the people God dreamed we would be, if only in that moment. We are created in the image of God. And serving others is at the core of who He
is.
Ashley and Riley might/ might not describe their experience in
these terms. We might hear, “It was our
pleasure,” coupled with a wide grin.
Don’t be mistaken.
The pleasure they experienced came from being the hands and feet of God
that night.
……………………………………………………………………
Consider living into your calling with us at UrbanLife. It may mean firing up your Croc Pot with
some hot chili. It could mean working an
extra shift at work to purchase the food for a Monday night. Or it could mean committing to a mentoring
friendship with a few youth in our community.
I would love to facilitate your particular expression of God’s image in
you. Just contact me.
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