First Karma Kitchen in Detroit
September 2015 — When a community came together in the spirit of love
My heart is overflowing with gratitude and love as I reflect on our first Karma Kitchen in Detroit — and how its generosity touched so many Detroiters. Everyone not only accepted it wholeheartedly, they reciprocated with loads of love and generosity!
In so many ways, Detroit is in its lowest period of many decades, but with collective blessings from around the globe — quite literally, many states of America, India, Canada, UK and more — we made a huge love impact in our local community!
Everything Came Together
Just two days before our pilot launch, someone anonymously sent us t-shirts with Karma Kitchen logo! At one point, we realized we didn't have any posters or sign boards.
On Wednesday, three young girls from Albania walked in for our Awakin Circle, were touched by the spirit of the evening, heard about Karma Kitchen, and out of the blue, one of them asked, "Do you need posters made? My brother has a print shop!"
Wow! Our need was heard. I was shocked and touched at the same time to receive this gift! To top it off, those three young girls signed up to volunteer! (And boy, they were like angels — some of us oldies really ended up needing the young blood to help us!)
The Community Came Together
It was almost as if a song of generosity was being played, and people just responded in perfect rhythm.
The Weather Miracle
On the day of Karma Kitchen, the forecast for the evening was... thunderstorm! 😟 Ours was an outdoor event. 😊 But we still kept preparing and thinking positive. And guess what? Nature gifted us with the most gorgeous, beautiful evening!
Initially, we were thinking that 30-35 guests might come, but with the rain forecast, perhaps just half of them! Still we kept serving without attachment to the outcomes. Joy is in the giving, right? By 8:30PM, we had served 50 people! Amazing response! We almost ran out of food!
I personally had the honor of cooking some Indian food myself! I was remembering cooking with Harshida-ben in Santa Clara, and her open, positive, loving nature and passion to serve others — and it helped me cook the best meal ever!
"The food had an extra ingredient today, that made it so delicious. And that secret ingredient was LOVE!"
— A Karma Kitchen Detroit guestThe Apple Miracle
As I was unloading the food from my car, a small pickup truck slowly inched towards us. Now, Pink Flamingo is in a rough neighborhood of Detroit, so I got a little nervous. But then, 3 young men got out of the truck — with baskets and baskets of apples!
It turned out that they saw a tree overloaded with apples, so they decided to pluck the apples and merrily give it away to people. Hearing their story, I was almost in tears. I asked them to join for dinner, and they did. It completed the full circle of giving. It was an incredibly heart-warming moment.
Throughout the day, we answered questions on Karma Kitchen, shared about ServiceSpace, introduced Smile Cards and thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve. Guests were totally blown away as we handed them a $0.00 bill with a handmade ceramic keychain as a memento! 😊
It was a beautiful day. People hugged, many hung out till the end, many new connections were made over kindness, some wanted to volunteer next time, and practically everyone was awaiting the next Karma Kitchen!
So much grace in accepting the gift and generously paying it forward with love. Thank you Detroit! And thank you, all, for the encouragement to experiment in this way. I would've never imagined that we could've pulled this off in Detroit, but I probably should stop being surprised by the power of love to create miracles. 😊
— Nilam Chauhan