Violet: Today we went to the soup kitchen
Josh has been volunteering at Glide almost every week, and he's been coordinating fellow bandmates to help with him. Glide runs a meal service program for the hungry in downtown SF, and the help is either meal preparation or serving the food. Since it's the week before the holidays, the Violet Band wanted to go together to help serve.
We all had to wear aprons and hair nets and gloves.
Max and Jack and Zada worked in the back kitchen, helping to prep the food for dinner. They cut lots of bread and vegetables. They wrapped a bunch of turkeys. They helped organize and set up the layout for the evening crew.
Josh and Sayuri and Laurel helped serve the food. In an assembly-line process, they each had an individual role to help what appeared to be multiple hundred lunches today. The lunch today was "chicken pot pie" - a stew and biscuit concoction with oranges and a salad on the side. There was also a vegetarian option!
Cassandra and Grace and I worked the floor - helping to clear empty trays, refill water glasses, and talk with the people eating. Grace walked around chatting and refilling everyone's water. Cass buzzed about clearing trays. Everyone was really lovely and appreciative.Cyrus helped the dish team. He cleared the plates and ran them through the dishwasher and then brought out the clean ones.
After lunch was over, we all cleaned the cafe - mopping floors, wiping tables, stacking chairs.Much of this year has been about driving to solve problems, achieve goals, ask questions. A simple day of giving-back was profoundly meaningful both for us in this context, and for the city of San Francisco.It was really incredible.