Consider It An Adventure! (With so many thanks to “The Peppers”!)
On Tuesday I said the words Laur dreads to hear. “Consider it an adventure!” What was the adventure? Finding homes for 100s of the best tasting tomatoes I have ever had.
Our friends, the Peppers (not their real name), encouraged us to pick tomatoes at their farm while they were away. This is from their personal vegetable garden, not their actual farm. Else we’d still be there.
On Monday, we took one box to Grace Linwell Retirement Community. I had planned to take most of others to the food bank at St. Alfred’s which is just across the parking lot from us. I got there with my vanful, only to be told they had just been given a shipment from Virgil… They said they could use one box though. OK, two down, five to go.
That is when I said, “Consider it an adventure!!!”
I got permission to put a box in the foyer of Jubilee Place – our retirement community.
I phoned Jane at the Westview Centre for Women. They too had just received a shipment of tomatoes. OK. Time to make new friends! I emailed folks and was given two other options – a Community Fridge at All Sorts Church (not the real name) and the Ozanam Centre which is a Soup Kitchen.
Off to the fridge at All Sorts where I placed two boxes. Just so you know, I sent a letter to the church office to let them know I would monitor the tomatoes. I cannot stand to see food wasted. Have you guessed that already?
Two more boxes to go. I phoned the Ozanam Centre and the amazing Chuck answered. “Sure,” he said, “We can use them!” Zoom! Zoom! Off we went. He told us they would make between 65 and 90 tomatoes sandwiches with these. I was thrilled.
So thrilled that I wrote the Ozanam Centre to find out if they ever need volunteers. I love soup kitchens. Many moons ago I volunteered at The Blue Door Café in Sudbury, under the supervision of the wonderful Kaireen Crichton. This was her husband Roger’s and her full-time volunteer job in their retirement. See https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/blue-door-soup-kitchen-founder-kaireen-crichton-has-passed-away-at-96-3873314
I got a note back from a member of the Ozanam Board - asking to have a phone conversation. I asked Laur to join me, which he didn’t want to do but then thought better of it. What might I commit myself and him to if he wasn’t around to put the brakes on – just a little?
Turns out the Ozanam Centre needs a Kaireen and Roger. Chuck, the person who has been faithfully coordinating and running “The O,” is leaving. Gah! I am a very good worker. But I am not a very good organizer. Not only that, any project that I’m involved in tends to grow as if I’d added a double batch of Miracle Gro.
I can see me getting a really good deal on 100 Frisbees and finding out they make excellent meal plates. You just turn them upside down, and there is so much less spilling. And then starting a Frisbee league in the parking lot for some of the soup kitchen guests while Laur washed the other 99 Frisbees in the dishwasher. And then there would have to be T-Shirts with the logo “We Throw for the O!” And yet another decal on the van. So with regret on my part (but not on Laur’s) we could not offer to be the new coordinators. But we (I) did offer to be a pick up person for food donations. We have a van, after all.
*****
It delighted me that the tomatoes at both Grace Linwell and Jubilee Place were taken up with lots of excitement. Most women in their 80s and 90s still know how to can and cannot stand food wastage. Many if not most – especially if they’ve come from other countries – know what hunger feels like and the threat of famine.
I know that the good folks at St. Alfred’s never let anything go to waste. The tomatoes at The O were long gone. But how were my chubby round red friends doing at the All Sorts Church Community Fridge? Pretty good. As I was picking through, pulling out the overripe ones, a person drove up.
I smiled and walked up to the car and asked, “Are you from All Sorts Church?” Turns out she was! Pastor Ruth (not her real name) is their Community Pastor - and fairly new to town. She has a passion for doing whatever ever can be done to help poor and marginalized folks to have the best lives and opportunities possible.
I said to her, “I am your new best friend!” And she didn’t even run away or phone the police! (Laur, however, quickly shuffled back to the car.) I so look forward to working alongside Pastor Ruth, and Jane at Westview, and the new “Chuck” at the Ozanam Centre, and the delightful crew at St. Alfred’s.
A news junkie, I am painfully aware that our world is being ravaged by climate change, war, disease, and starvation. I love the Breton fisherman’s prayer. “Dear God, The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.”
I am also very aware that I myself that I am not getting any younger and I want to enjoy every day I’m given to the fullest.
There is very little I can do about the Big Things – other than vote responsibly and donate money to various missions. But the Small Things – those I can do with great love and much joy. At least much of the time.
There is a song we used to sing as kids at Joy Bible Camp. “Give me gas in my Ford, keep my driving for the Lord!” Not environmentally friendly though. How about “Give my jolts in my Volt, keep me driving for mein Gott!“ 😊
Our friends, the Peppers (not their real name), encouraged us to pick tomatoes at their farm while they were away. This is from their personal vegetable garden, not their actual farm. Else we’d still be there.
On Monday, we took one box to Grace Linwell Retirement Community. I had planned to take most of others to the food bank at St. Alfred’s which is just across the parking lot from us. I got there with my vanful, only to be told they had just been given a shipment from Virgil… They said they could use one box though. OK, two down, five to go.
That is when I said, “Consider it an adventure!!!”
I got permission to put a box in the foyer of Jubilee Place – our retirement community.
I phoned Jane at the Westview Centre for Women. They too had just received a shipment of tomatoes. OK. Time to make new friends! I emailed folks and was given two other options – a Community Fridge at All Sorts Church (not the real name) and the Ozanam Centre which is a Soup Kitchen.
Off to the fridge at All Sorts where I placed two boxes. Just so you know, I sent a letter to the church office to let them know I would monitor the tomatoes. I cannot stand to see food wasted. Have you guessed that already?
Two more boxes to go. I phoned the Ozanam Centre and the amazing Chuck answered. “Sure,” he said, “We can use them!” Zoom! Zoom! Off we went. He told us they would make between 65 and 90 tomatoes sandwiches with these. I was thrilled.
So thrilled that I wrote the Ozanam Centre to find out if they ever need volunteers. I love soup kitchens. Many moons ago I volunteered at The Blue Door Café in Sudbury, under the supervision of the wonderful Kaireen Crichton. This was her husband Roger’s and her full-time volunteer job in their retirement. See https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/blue-door-soup-kitchen-founder-kaireen-crichton-has-passed-away-at-96-3873314
I got a note back from a member of the Ozanam Board - asking to have a phone conversation. I asked Laur to join me, which he didn’t want to do but then thought better of it. What might I commit myself and him to if he wasn’t around to put the brakes on – just a little?
Turns out the Ozanam Centre needs a Kaireen and Roger. Chuck, the person who has been faithfully coordinating and running “The O,” is leaving. Gah! I am a very good worker. But I am not a very good organizer. Not only that, any project that I’m involved in tends to grow as if I’d added a double batch of Miracle Gro.
I can see me getting a really good deal on 100 Frisbees and finding out they make excellent meal plates. You just turn them upside down, and there is so much less spilling. And then starting a Frisbee league in the parking lot for some of the soup kitchen guests while Laur washed the other 99 Frisbees in the dishwasher. And then there would have to be T-Shirts with the logo “We Throw for the O!” And yet another decal on the van. So with regret on my part (but not on Laur’s) we could not offer to be the new coordinators. But we (I) did offer to be a pick up person for food donations. We have a van, after all.
*****
It delighted me that the tomatoes at both Grace Linwell and Jubilee Place were taken up with lots of excitement. Most women in their 80s and 90s still know how to can and cannot stand food wastage. Many if not most – especially if they’ve come from other countries – know what hunger feels like and the threat of famine.
I know that the good folks at St. Alfred’s never let anything go to waste. The tomatoes at The O were long gone. But how were my chubby round red friends doing at the All Sorts Church Community Fridge? Pretty good. As I was picking through, pulling out the overripe ones, a person drove up.
I smiled and walked up to the car and asked, “Are you from All Sorts Church?” Turns out she was! Pastor Ruth (not her real name) is their Community Pastor - and fairly new to town. She has a passion for doing whatever ever can be done to help poor and marginalized folks to have the best lives and opportunities possible.
I said to her, “I am your new best friend!” And she didn’t even run away or phone the police! (Laur, however, quickly shuffled back to the car.) I so look forward to working alongside Pastor Ruth, and Jane at Westview, and the new “Chuck” at the Ozanam Centre, and the delightful crew at St. Alfred’s.
A news junkie, I am painfully aware that our world is being ravaged by climate change, war, disease, and starvation. I love the Breton fisherman’s prayer. “Dear God, The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.”
I am also very aware that I myself that I am not getting any younger and I want to enjoy every day I’m given to the fullest.
There is very little I can do about the Big Things – other than vote responsibly and donate money to various missions. But the Small Things – those I can do with great love and much joy. At least much of the time.
There is a song we used to sing as kids at Joy Bible Camp. “Give me gas in my Ford, keep my driving for the Lord!” Not environmentally friendly though. How about “Give my jolts in my Volt, keep me driving for mein Gott!“ 😊