My Journey in Writing, Ranting, and Woodworking

When I received my package of gift hand planes, the only request was that I ‘Pay it Forward’.  The first of my deeds of good was this weekend.  In Des Moines, Iowa there is a church who has been feeding the hungry for 40 years.  Six days a week, volunteers from a church in central Iowa, will come and provided dinner.  There are a total of 35 churches who take turns.  It is quite a well thought out system.

I have a little bit of experience in the food service industry, having done two tours of duty with McDonalds.  I enjoyed my time under the golden arches and when we started to set up, I remembered much of the fun.  I was fortunate in that I worked for one of the best owner operators in the whole franchise system, John Dasher.  Any job can be great if there are great people all around you.

Well we had a good team Saturday night.  Dad was in charge of the plates, trays, buns.  Doug handed out the dessert.  Mom was management and made sure we were running like a well oiled food service machine.  I kept the meat for the maid rites from burning.  It was really quite fun and I thought about the days on the grill, when a bus load of hungry softball players would show up.  It was always a rush to try to feed them all as quickly as possible.  I thrived on it.

So we got everything set up and I was on the scoop the meat and add the condiments station.  The church, after 40 years of feeding people, has learned some valuable lessons.  It goes much more quickly if they have the ‘patrons don’t touch the food rule’.  So we add the condiments, per the request of each person, and by doing it this way, the line moves rather quickly.

I started a little bit slowly, as I hadn’t quite figured out a rhythm, but eventually got in the groove.  This may not be a surprise to anyone, but I am a bit of a mingler.  I just like to chat with people.  There wasn’t much time for small talk though as everyone was hungry, but I did say hello, and everyone was friendly.   We even had a number of people come back for seconds.  They seemed to genuinely like the sandwiches.  Or maybe it was just better than nothing?  I really couldn’t say.  I just know that they all said ‘Thank-you’, and that I had a really fun time.

So to Perry, who sent me the hand planes, which inspired the volunteering, I have to say ‘Thanks’ again, and I am not sure if I should count Saturday as having ‘Paid it Forward’, as I had so much fun.  Does it count if you enjoy it?

I am not sure.  But I recommend volunteering to anyone who enjoys fun.