A Holiday Legacy

The holiday season is a time many of us look toward each year. Halloween serves as a gateway for the beginning. Thanksgiving reminds us Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and The New Year are not far behind. We picture this as the time all of our troubles will melt away and joy will fill take their place. I was no different last year as I was going through difficult times. Not one to stand in my own muck and mire, I volunteered at the local soup kitchen for Thanksgiving. The organization is call TASK standing for Trenton area soup kitchen

I called in and was given for the 1:00 shift. I arrived at 10 a.m. anyway and went immediately to work. The volunteers do a variety of jobs. You can serve the food trays to the clients, work the food tray assembly line, clean up or man the roving coffee and fruit carts. The clients are seated at long tables and served. I chose to remain on the serving line, which wrapped across the front of the kitchen serving counter and down the left side of the hall.

In this particular year, there was an abundance of servers mostly from the Trenton suburbs like myself. There were a large number of high school and college aged kids. Many of them adults and kids alike would get on line serve a tray then take a twenty-minute cigarette, chat or meal break. Few like me kept working nonstop. None of us was like the one little Hispanic woman, Maria, who seemed to be everywhere.

Maria worked the assembly line, clean up, both roving carts and then got on the serving line right behind me. I took the opportunity to compliment the woman on efforts. She returned the gesture in kind by noting she noticed I was the only other person who hadn’t stop to eat or take a break. We introduced ourselves and somewhere moments later she just blurted out, "So what are you recovering from?" It took me by surprise, but I came back quickly with, "Divorce and you?" She answered plainly, "I’m four years clean and sober from drugs and alcohol." Maria’s honesty was disarming but I kept pace, "I’m newly clean from a sobering divorce but the other half is having a withdrawal problem." She laughed and we continued to talk as we did our serving circles.