Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Milk, Nuts and Things


Walking home the other night from the soup kitchen I work at, I saw these prints in the window. sorry the photos are so crazy. It was dark and I had to use a flash. I was struck by these colours of oversize botanicals on black. I thought they looked really cool and I thought Dollface might be inspired by this display. I couldn't tell how they were made, printed or silk screened. But I thought she would like the ginormous scale and colour contrast.

I also took a couple of photos of some of the folks I work with, at a church serving about 130 (sometimes more) per night a good hot meal. Some of the people working in this place have a work live situation. They applied from other countries to come here and work at this church and they have room and a shared kitchen and common room for tv upstairs. The general impression I've gotten is it's a really cool program, the participants go through a lot of paperwork and promise to work for a year. I will post more photos next time I am able to. Don't these folks look FUN! We have a great time, and a lot of the food is donated by Whole Foods. Another reason to love Whole Foods!

A volunteer from Cook County (government administrator on initiative program through work) Miguel and Marcus (from Germany).

Miguel.

Philip, from Germany and Vincent from Hong Kong. Vincent did a Psychology degree in Los Angeles and is here working for one year.

This is my dream oven.

Anita, from Germany on right, behind her Laura and Vincent.

8 comments:

Buttercup said...

Awesome that you volunteer!

mister anchovy said...

that is so great you are working there - sounds like a great experience and an chance to help people get food in their gullet.

Gardenia said...

You really amaze me! I really hope I get to meet you in person some day! Thanks for the botanical pics - gives me a vision for getting "out of the box" with them.....my paints are the last thing I'm packing! Tonight I'm ordering gift cards to send to an elementary school on the Gulf Coast that (and its students & teachers) hit hard by Katrina.

mister anchovy said...

it just occurred to me that 'milk, nuts & things' was the name of that groovy little place on College St. back before they opened 10,000 restaurants in a row.....and that reminded me of Bonzo Burgers....they used to make, in my humble opinion, the best burger in Toronto

* (asterisk) said...

I bet you guys have a bit of a blast at the soup kitchen, huh?

Amy Ruttan said...

Looks like a fun group. Good for you volunteering. I used to (before children and husbands crazy work hours) volunteer at the food bank. Maybe one day I'll get back into it, but I am seriously considering volunteering at the children's hospital, as they were instrumental in saving my son's life this year.

Stagg said...

Mister Anchovy, Yes, I always thought that name of the store "milk nuts and things" was funny...and when I didn't know what to call this post, I figured they didn't know what to call their store. Oh it is really great to go there and work and meet all the people. It's often the highlight of my week. There is an amazing guy, Father Manny, who I will get a photo of this week, who is so inspiring. He knows just how to keep everyone energetic and happy, always has the right thing to say. I want to be just like him when I grow up!

Hi Buttercup...thanks, and I'll drop by to see you soon!

8, We really do have fun. We do different jobs each time, just get assigned, could be anything, serving or cooking or cleaning...but the people are so fun and just like we all get happy there and run around. Very ambitious young people I've met, super cool.

Amy, yes, it's very tricky to find time when you have a family and so many schedules to juggle. When the kids get a little more older, you can take them with you to a vilunteer situation. I find that almost all organizations have options for evena n hour or two per month to pitch in...they know people are busy and there are some places where you can even just do some paperwork for an hour. One reason why I think it's important for parents to volunteer...is it takes them out of their own environment and our problems within family, getting kids to school and to bed seem less stressful, you know? Puts things in perspective. You have a beautiful opportunity to teach your kids that service/volunteering is a natrual part of life.

dollface, I am glad to inspire you, but really, I am an utter space cadet...I am running around half the time not sure what is what! I was hoping you might get somethign out of those pictures...if I am near the store again, I'll try to get a better photo, because I think it would be a really cool idea to paint such oversize botanicals. Surreal yet pleasing on the eyes.

Anonymous said...

This looks like fun!

And, you get to meet so many interesting people.

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