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A Once-In-A-Lifetime Chorus

With a 30-person party walking in through our doors at 11:00 am, last Sunday's crew had no choice but to hit the ground running -- and they rose to that challenge with grace, grit and joy! Each person stretched more than  a little in the spirit of generosity, reaching within for that deep reserve of energy, selflessness and warmth to carry us collectively through a wonderfully active afternoon serving just under 100 guests.

As one volunteer put it, "I felt at times like I was the only server and everyone else on the crew was my 'savior'" :) That kind of synergy is vintage Karma Kitchen, where everyone has "got your back". The spontaneous relationships that are forged so swiftly in a space like this are special -- they light up the afternoon. This week was particularly unique with volunteers in town from India and New Mexico (including my mother and sister!), guests from Sacramento and Davis, a professional singer who offered up the gift of her voice, a special request for Karma Kitchen to pay-forward a set of six tickets to the SF Girls Choir, the launch of the $1 Kindness Challenge (artistic little envelopes created by volunteers Hafeez and Dipa, each containing a dollar bill and an inspiring invitation to use it as the "seed" for a pay-it-forward act), a woman who received her wisdom scroll with an air of awed amazement, "I can't believe a place like this exists in the United States!" The theme of the day was harmony and  as part of the step-it-up activity, guests shared lines from their favorite songs -- here's a quick sampling of their notes:

"From a distance we are all instruments marching in a common band" - Bette Midler "We're one but we're not the same. We get to carry each other" -U2 " We are the world" & "I'm starting with the man in the mirror"- Michael Jackson, "Imagine all the people living life in peace' - Elton John "To love another person is to see the face of God" - from Les Miserables

Each week at Karma Kitchen is a kind of once-in-a-lifetime chorus, each week there is a new variation on the same timeless theme of generosity. Thank you for being a part of that continuing "song".

 

--Pavi on Oct 27, 2009




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