Dear Feastlings,
We’re an interesting bunch, we humans. As the stress level continues without relenting, and as the fears we experience daily shift from worries about our health, to worries about the basic necessities we couldn’t acquire as they were hoarded around us, to worries about our jobs, to worries about our loved ones, to worries about whatever is happening politically and socially during this Weirdest Year in Our Lifetimes, I’ve watched people treat each other with vitriol and disrespect, with smug self-absorption, and with outright oblivious disregard. But I’ve also watched people open themselves up to show care and love, and kindness and generosity, not only to the people they know and love, but as well to complete strangers. And doggone if that doesn’t make daily life a whole lot better. Today my daily life was made a whole lot better by my new buddy Kelly, who serves the same function at the Sister Jose Women’s Center as my other new buddy Eric at the Primavera Men’s Shelter, and Kelly and I have arranged for our next donation run to feed three hundred women who avail themselves of the Center’s services throughout the course of a given week. Kelly is what we might call lucky, in that she doesn’t need to work to keep her head about water, and the community is lucky, in that she chooses to work, gratis, over fifty hours a week coordinating the kitchen there in good times and bad. Hint: for the people who need the Center’s services, there’s always a rough patch, or they wouldn’t be there.
Anyhow, I’ll be meeting Kelly a week from today with three days’ worth of meals in tow, and following up a few days later with another batch, and we’ll all owe thanks in large part to you and the other members of our Feast family for your contribution to it. Here’s the story on the donation run, and on the Center itself:
Meanwhile, we’ve got our normal activities brewing as well: A wine tasting of inky-dark red wines, all one varietal, albeit with a handful of different names
and our normal preparation of food, wine, cocktails, and baked goods. You can call us at 326-9363 and we’ll be happy to round up some victuals and libations for you, or, at your behest, for the women at the Sister José Women’s Center. Give us a call. We’d love to hear from you for any reason. Okay, for nearly any reason.
Love,
Doug and the numerous other people of Feast