Grace Cathedral
Well, we made it through another fantastic DwG, quickly followed by a lavishly complimented Celebration Sunday a few days ago. It’s taken me a couple extra days to recoup, but now it’s time to thank you all for the phenomenal effort last Tuesday and Wednesday — and look ahead to our next production on September 26 and 27.
First, the recap: imagine the non-stop activity of eleven volunteers in the kitchen, all working with joy and in harmony, executing lead chef Grace Chen’s special recipes for chicken enchiladas, refried beans, green salad and rice pudding.
We were delighted to see a few of our old friends back volunteering and to welcome a new cohort of four Circle K students, who proved indispensable to our efforts.
Everyone turned in a heroic performance, but I have to give a special shout-out to Angel Rivera, who with just a few minutes’ notice booked down to Trader Joe’s to tote up extra chicken breasts I had to buy to replace the missing count on our Instacart order.
Bill Van Loo worked his usual clean-towels-and-reheating magic Wednesday afternoon, and Zeph Chen zipped through 101 traffic to arrive early for his really important job of the day, transporting eighteen trays of food to the Mentone.
We were welcomed with open arms — tables set and adorned with fresh flowers courtesy of new Mentone staff member Toni; kitchen spotless and ready for our organized chaos and volunteers and residents full of enthusiasm. It was Case Manager Shari’s birthday, and the festive atmosphere feted her appropriately. Here’s her feedback:
“The spirit of the Lord was truly in our place! The level of energy resonating throughout the place was remarkable. The clients truly out-did themselves by showing up and being great participants…Thanks again for helping to make my birthday special.”
Here’s who we have to thank for our latest triumph:
Photos: Tracee Zyla
Chefs: Grace, Phoebe, Jessica, Prayag, Laurel, Angel, Nicole, and Circle K students Evelyn, Heewon (Sara), Adele, and Isabella
Food Reheat: Bill Van Loo
Driver: Zeph Cheung
Servers: Vince, Zeph, Belen, Neda, Maria, Pam, Karen, Nicole, and Circle K students Evelyn and William.
We’ve come to the end of a nice long rotation, and it’s time to fill a new cycle. Dates are: Oct. 11 and 25, Nov. 15 and 29. Please think about leading, offering to sous-chef or splitting up the meal parts with another person. Our ministry depends on our chefs — we can’t do it without you!
Next Month’s Dates:
Tuesday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 12 at the Mentone
Tuesday, October 24 and Wednesday, October 25 at the Crosby
With prayers of thanks to all of you.
Blessings,
Nicole
To learn more about Dinner with Grace and/or to get involved, please visit our Dinner with Grace page. To see more photos from our time in the kitchen, please click on our Dinner with Grace Flickr.
Dear volunteers,
Thank you to all who have made Dinner with Grace possible. We had a wonderful turnout for both cooking and serving this time around, and I’m glad to see the summer has brought in some newness to the DWG volunteer roster, as well as some familiar faces. All of our volunteers have this “just keep swimming” attitude that has us moving along until the work is done. All of you have contributed to the service in a meaningful way, and I am grateful to you!
A note on serving and sharing meals. We are all welcome to and encouraged to share a meal with our residents. Things are hectic and we don’t really have a break from our duties as servers, but just keep in mind that if you would like to share a meal with the residents, you are most welcome to break and enjoy a meal with residents or each other after the initial service to the tables. It’s always interesting getting to know our residents.
Chris was the lead chef this time around. He had seven volunteer chefs to help him. They toiled in the kitchen and enjoyed a taste of their efforts afterward. The menu included a delicious chicken rice bake that was sure to be a hit on service night. And, of course, it was! “A healthy meal always includes lots of vegetables,” says our lead chef, Chris. I warmed up the food at Grace Cathedral before Melissa, with thanks to Billy for being on standby, arrived to deliver all the food to the Crosby. Our big-hearted onsite coordinator, Donna, made our introductions and led food service on Wednesday evening. We saw a lot of new folk last week and their help was much appreciated.
No matter their background or skill set, our DwG volunteers always have a couple of things in common—a desire to build community and a commitment to be of service!
Next Month’s Dates:
Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 12 at the Mentone
Lead chef: Nicole Stahl, Driver: Zeph Cheung
Tuesday, July 25 and Wednesday, July 26 at the Crosby
Lead chef Andrew Seidman, Driver: Billy Crawford
The Menu:
- Chicken & Rice bake with vegetables
- Mixed greens with cucumbers, feta and nuts
- Dinner rolls
- Frosted Brownie bites
Meals Served: 40 for here; 49 to-go plates and 41 residents served plus a few visitors
Leftovers: 2.5 trays of the chicken bake
The Serving Staff:
Chefs
Lead Chef: Chris
Associate Chefs: Diane, Ehsan, Grace, Jay, Linda, Neda, Nicole
Servers
Site Coordinator: Donna
On-site Servers: Belen, Charis, David, Jim, Margherita, Nicole, Sandra
Food Reheat: Bill Van Loo
Driver: Billy
Please help us spread the word and invite your friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join us in our fun and meaningful ministry.
The next time you sign up for Dinner with Grace, you’ll see a bunch of smiling faces from last Tuesday’s cooking greeting you from the banner photo.
This happy group was another classic assemblage of newcomers and old friends drawn to our rewarding ministry of caring and fellowship. This time our crew included a group of four Facebook employees who traded an evening of fine dining for the chance to be of service to our special community, along with several DwG veterans.
And actually, there was some fine dining going on, both at Grace after cooking and at the Mentone! Lead chef Nicole Sroka directed the preparation of a bountiful meal of sliders, roasted sweet potato rounds, coleslaw, and Mom’s peach crisp. Yum!
Here’s the feedback from Shari Gardner, case manager at the Mentone:
“I am happy to report another successful night. Last night we served 42 clients. When I went home at 7:38 pm there were only six sliders left with one tray of coleslaw. I would definitely call that a success. Thank you, Lord, for the unconditional love shown to the Mentone residents every month. Thank you and your volunteers for spreading unconditional love each time you visit.”
The only downside to the evening was our fond farewell to stalwart server Lauren Doone, who will soon be on her way to San Diego. We will miss her and wish her all the best! Fortunately, as a truly committed volunteer, she has introduced her good friend Karen to DwG, a winning contribution (and who knows–she just may take over Lauren’s knife pose!).
Next Month’s Dates:
We need lead chefs for both sets of dates, so please don’t be shy about stepping up to help!
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 27 and 28, Crosby
Tuesday and Wednesday, July 11 and 12, Mentone
Here’s who we have to thank for spreading that unconditional love:
The Serving Staff:
Chefs
Nicole Sroka, plus her brother and his wife; Deepti Doshi, Matthew Terrell, Monica Ares, Michael Huang, Michael Wood, Linda Coughenour, Olivia Tzou, Julie Tran, Angel Rivera, Nicole Stahl
Servers
Ella Garcia, Lauren Doone, Karen Hynes, Belen Lopez, Zeph Cheung, Vince Flores, Nicole Stahl
Food Reheat: Bill Van Loo
Driver: Zeph Cheung
Have a good week, keep cool and hope to see you again soon!