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There is no higher purpose than to serve others.
Dear KK-Team,
The more you volunteer at KK, you will find out the magic that Guri brings. She handled the interface role with boundless generosity and still had time to bus and share a few anecdotes with the rest of the volunteers. Amish seemed to find his calling here at KK. He was amusing the guests with his playful nature as he immersed himself in the spirit of overwhelming the guests with his generosity. The first few times volunteers take the server role, they tend to show a bit of stress, however, Melody seemed to achieve Zen-peace right away in her role. She made sure to get into conversation with willing guests and still kept up on every task of her role. KK's mascot is a turtle named Senor Slowdown to remind us all to make sure to experience the moment; Alex's continuous peaceful calm served as my Senor Slowdown reminder. Bobby and Sateen seemed to enjoy dishwashing. Most of the time, that role takes some getting used to but they seemed to ease into it rather quickly and for the first time I have seen, they alleviated all bottlenecks before they happened! Bhoutik's energy is always amazing and enthusiastic. He is able to approach and maintain any situation as a result. Kudos to the platers! Kinjal and Manan handled continuous orders from beginning to after we ended and all the while exuding happiness and smiles. Those smiles had a contagious effect on the rest of us; I especially noticed that effect take place during our volunteer lunch.A few reminders of the day:- The dance of joy that Muranda brought to KK and included the rest of the restaurant really made the day special and created a medium in which other people could break out of their comfort zone and continue on their journey of kindness.- A month back or so, there was an Indian family that came to KK for the first time. Right as they heard the concept they were blown away and really appreciated the space that KK provides but were reluctant to try the community table. This time they entered and opted for the community table and seemed to enjoy their time even more. The Dad's face was beaming. His wife participated in the dance of joy at first with hesitation and then brought others to join her. Transformations like this is what keeps me coming back to KK.- We don't serve food to go at KK because the point of this project is to experience the space provided by all of us and CharityFocus. There was a college student that came at a time when there was a line outside and she had a class to go to. She patiently waited through the line and was seated but she wasn't able to order in time. She expressed her gratitude of the time that she spent at KK and said that she will eventually give this a try. I decided to gift her with a meal to go so that she will not attend her class hungry. This brought tears to her eyes and non-verbal realization of the Kindness we are all representing that day.- After they enjoyed their meal, this table of six had questions ranging from 'what is the motivating factor to volunteering at KK' to 'how can we become volunteers'. All six of them signed up on that e-mail list at the Kindness table. Another transformation about to happen..Whether or not you were able to experience any transformations on Sunday, know that your selfless service sent out ripples of kindness out into the world. Those ripples will allow the newcomers to KK to begin their journey towards generosity and other veteran guests get to continue that journey. Sometimes you have the extraordinary chance to witness that transformation and a lot of the times the transformation happens outside of KK once guests have some time to process it and/or get more exposure to the concept. Regardless, know that your time at Karma Kitchen helped make that effort progress forward.Thank you!--MJ on Jan 25, 2011
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