May 13, 2026
“We are all connected. We cannot achieve true peace until we recognize our shared humanity.” – Dalai Lama
The Kodak moment I lead with when remembering our Monday Grill picnic of Feed the People…was at our beginning time, when Hattie came across the yards between PVCC and her apartment complex, and maneuvered across the parking lot with her wheelie-walker. I waved and as she got closer she exclaimed, “I’m here to help.” Over the last several month Hattie’s main connection to PVCC was a home bound delivery to the senior apartments next to the church – as a recipient. Excitedly we exclaimed sure! She tossed the walker, we got her a chair to sit in and she scooped ice cream and made sundae’s for two solid hours. What a JOY!
Then we have Sam, a community member who volunteered to help last month; and this month brought an entire passenger van full of young adult friends, from his group living home. He asked for a “pastor hug” and patiently introduced me to all his friends. Each one went down the serving line, making their grill choices and sides to go with. JOY abounds!
Another was the neighborhood children who approached with a bit of shyness, clinging to the shadow of their adults; but soon found comfort in coming back for another hotdog. So many smiles and thank-yous. JOY in the face of a child is priceless!
The grandma who drove by then went home to get her grand-babies. The workers [working on a holiday] pulling in for a hearty hamburger lunch….gratitude and love in the air!
The cars traveling down 21 st street giving honks and a wave! JOY!
ALLLLLL the volunteers: the grill team, the folks on the serving line, delivery to shut-ins, set up and clean up, taking phone orders; everyone doing something to bring JOY to our neighborhood and honestly to each other. The love we have for one another amplified as we pass that love on cannot be underestimated.
At the end of two hours we served approximately 90-100 individuals and about 150 meals. This accomplished by a congregation, that is about 25 folks! Generous JOY, showing that LOVE WINS!
What is not going to steal my joy [and I hope yours also] is the one individual who was agitated because he wanted to take home four hamburgers- at a time when we were running low on having enough hamburgers for the event. In our humanity, it is easy to grouse- around about the tone and attitude he was giving…but the truth is we don’t know his story [and we don’t need to]. In our excitement to have the community with us, we did not set any boundaries. We cannot expect hungry people in need of a meal to act as we would expect. I know for my part, I should have taken him aside and given him a better explanation. I will do better the next time. I quickly found that simply saying, “hamburger or hotdog or one of each” set some boundaries and expectation for us all in the system of giving and receiving.
I will be whiffing the beautiful fumes of our Monday Feed the People picnic grill, for a good long time. I think as we all examine our own “why” as to why we desire to feed the neighborhood; both individually and as a community, we will be able to reflect on why this event happens and continues. My why is to get some great [homemade] food to folks in the community, as a faith based group of folks [transforming the dominate narrative of church folks]. I love people and I love food!
We are in community area that is above the average in families living in poverty and an increasing number of single parent households with children. There is also an increase in older adults living alone. My “community why” includes to build relationships and get to know each other.
What is your Kodak moment of LOVE and JOY from the picnic [I would love to hear it]! Keep spreading the JOY and lead with the stories that warm your heart and show the kin-dom LOVE WINS!