SAN FRANCISCO – The invitation from the Warriors was appealing: Would you like to join our group in providing meals to those in need?
I was hooked. At first, I had no idea, or cared, where I would be going, who I would be feeding, or what would be served. I might have been preparing sandwiches for preschoolers in the Mission District or making mashed potatoes in the kitchen of the San Francisco County Jail.
This is mandatory for Warriors employees: Any employee who fails to volunteer at least one day each year will automatically receive an “F” as a citizen.
I knew right away we were going to Glide Memorial Church. Perfect. I’d been there before. This shining star in San Francisco’s oft-neglected Tenderloin district is known for serving thousands of meals every day and for treating every human being with kindness and dignity.
We pulled into the Chase Center parking lot around 11 a.m. on a warm Thursday morning, and most of our group was waiting for a ride-share service near the entrance. We piled into three cars and headed to GLIDE.
After registering at the Community Activities and Volunteer office, we were ushered downstairs to the dining hall and given hairnets and disposable aprons. Staff divided us into groups and assigned us one of four jobs: working the food serving line, distributing compartment trays, clearing tables, or handing cleared trays to the staff operating the dishwasher.
Many customers know that today’s menu item is the most popular one, fried chicken, so they told me that we would have a steady stream of customers. And they weren’t lying.
Then the crowd came. It was like a starting gun had fired. The next 70 minutes flew by. Tables were cleared, tables were cleaned, pitchers of ice water were refilled, and the party was on. Very little chicken was left uneaten. Potatoes (or rice) and fresh fruit were more popular than broccoli.
One customer shared his opinion on the NBA Finals, another handed me an empty tray and asked if Klay Thompson was staying with the Warriors, and a third said he was heading to the store and to let me know if I needed anything.
Conversations brought smiles and chuckles, a hot meal was heartily appreciated and has the power to bring people together, at least for those precious few minutes.
I wish those few minutes could have been years.
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