MEALS WITH MEANING VOLUNTEERS

When you read or hear the words “Meals with Meaning” what do you think about or picture in your mind? Food, hygiene items, the guests that are served, and what they might look like perhaps?

For me, this is Meals with Meaning, yes. However, that is only one part. The team of volunteers is the breath of this loved-filled ministry. Each week we have kind, compassionate beings who serve those that are in need of food, toiletries, and, most importantly in my opinion, their time. 

It takes over 30 volunteers each week to run our 6-day-a-week community program. Whether we are under a heat advisory or in the middle of a summer rainstorm, our beautiful team shows up. They understand that this is not a task on their calendar to check off, but rather see Meals with Meaning as a family that they get to spend time with every week. They not only show up with smiles and sweat rags, but they show up with such joy and presence that can only be felt not captured in words or photos. This is the reason why we have guests that live in Miami that choose to spend over an hour on the bus each way to come to us. It is not that our cans of beans taste better than anyone else’s, but rather the people that are serving them at God’s table of grace and abundance.

Meals with Meaning is truly a place that ALL of God’s beloved come. This is not only with our guests in mind, but our volunteers. Our servant team has been knit together by the Divine’s doing. This blended family includes Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and those that aren’t sure what to name this light that lives within them. What they all know is that we are called to care for each other. This means meeting each person where they are in life and not where we or society thinks they should be. That is going beyond our human love and entering into the mystery of God’s love.

To each and every volunteer at Meals with Meaning, I thank you. You help by giving those that can be seen as less than a sense of peace, dignity, and unity that is the byproduct of your kindness, generosity, and sincerity.



God bless you,

Gena