The Magic of Coffee

Over the past 25 years, and over and over, I've told the story of our "shiny coffee pot" in the Haskell Avenue Food Pantry.  Here's how I told the story in my first book:

". . . I remember that, during my first week or so on the job, I made a trip to a local discount store where I purchased a large, industrial-sized coffee pot.  The next morning as was setting up the new coffee pot in the interview room, a long-time volunteer approached me.  She put her hand on my shoulder and asked me in a tone that mixed disgust with surprise, 'What are you doing, Larry?' I replied with great pride, 'Oh, I bought us a new coffee pot.  I love coffee and the conversation it can start!  New we can make coffee for our guests when they come into the food pantry.'  She looked at me with incredulity and said, ' You can't do that!  Don't you know that, if you serve coffee, these people will never leave?'" (The Wealth of the Poor:  How Valuing Every Neighbor Restores Hope in Our Cities, pages 54-55)

Needless to say, coffee has remained, from those early days, a staple at CitySquare.  We serve it every morning at the Opportunity Center to our friends, many of whom are homeless.  Our students brew it daily in the CitySquare Cafe on that same campus. 

Actually, coffee has taken on a life of its own at CitySquare.

Our culinary arts and hospitality students learn how to make coffee, some even opt for barista training!

Last year our good friends at Highland Park United Methodist Church invited us to open and facilitate a coffee shop in their beautiful building.   Our trainees and interns staff the food and coffee service every Sunday in two locations inside the church--the new Youth Center and more formal coffee shop setting that we've built out in Wesley Hall.  CitySquare reaps the income while learning how to provide food and coffee service on Sunday mornings.  And, the coffee shops always seem packed.  Every table debunks the myths of poverty with "fact cards" revealing the brutal truth about poverty in Dallas and beyond.

More recently, Southern Methodist University graduate students took charge of a Union Coffee popup truck during a market analysis of how a coffee shop might be received in the South Dallas neighborhood around the historic, iconic Forest Theater.  Students and community folks surrounded the truck on two consecutive mornings.  Talk about a winner!  Coffee and its prospects ignited real neighborhood excitement, and connection.

Several years ago a man told me and a group of United Way volunteers that the coffee pot in the Food Pantry "saved his life."  Homeless at the time, the man recalled coming to the food pantry daily for a morning cup of coffee and some friendly conversation.  'That kept me going every day,"  he said.  Today he is employed and doing well.

I tell you, you just can't escape the power of coffee!  Come by anytime.  The aroma feels magnetic!

Profiles in leadership

Two insightful videos follow here.

The first records the solo action of CitySquare board member, Kevin Thomason.

The second captures members of the leadership team of the CitySquare. Here I'm proud to stand with Kevin (out a second time in a week doing his duty to our community) along with board chair, Dave Shipley and President/COO, John Siburt.

Clearly, evidence that our organization is in good, stable hands!

The Line

I've learned so much from "poor" people over the past four decades.

There is more to learn, and so much more to do to battle poverty.

I pray to God we can lift our eyes and see our sisters and brothers
linked to all of us.

Volunteers who love. . .

Below I've shared a message that a volunteer organizer sent to his team after a Christmas meal served at CityWalk, our Downtown Dallas housing community.  The sentiment was so simple, sweet and significant that I had to pass it along.  Be blessed this Christmas!

 

All,

Thank you so much for your help last night with the Christmas Event for the residents at CitySquare.   This was our third year to participate and by far the best event yet.   

This morning early I was reading some material regarding love.   There was a paragraph in the material  that started with this:   “The best way to feel love is to give love."   I felt like we showed some of our Dallas community that we care about them and that we love them.   If only one person felt that we cared and loved them last night, then the whole effort was a huge success.  From my standpoint however,   I  think that many folks felt happy and loved last night as a result of the kindnesses you showed them.   For me, the Christmas season began last night.    I am so glad to have had the opportunity to share something this special with all of you.  

I am already thinking about the 2015 event and look forward to working with you again next year.  

Thank you all again.    I hope you have a very safe and happy Christmas season.  

Football at "the Corner"

Last Thursday a great group from Texas Instruments found us at "the Corner."

Wooo Hooo!  did we have us a party!

Our new friends brought a giant grill on which they cooked over a hundred hamburgers and even more hot dogs with all the trimmings, including fresh fruit, fleece blankets and hundreds of hygiene kits.

Sure, it was another "stop gap" event; but something more was going on as well.

These volunteers from TI really "mingled" among the homeless friends who passed through the experience.

They actually took the time to talk, to question, to listen and to simply connect.

It was beautiful!

One white-haired gentleman approached and asked, "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion, really" I replied.  "Just people hanging out with other great people, and a great group of folks from TI."  

"Have they come to give us jobs?" he asked.

I found out that he had made a career of driving trucks cross country.  He needed work, even though he appeared to be well past retirement age.

He settled for the meal and fellowship.  I'm praying for the day when real, living wage jobs show up.

About an hour into the "party" something told me to get a football out of my car.  I've had this seemingly crazy idea for several weeks.  I just sensed that barely beneath the surface I could find pent up energy and desire for games.

I started playing catch with my friend, Blue.

Soon several were wanting in the game!  Even Billy Merendino, the owner of the filling station on whose driveway we were playing was throwing the ball around!

It was magic!

But, no surprise, right?

People are born to play!

We are all the same.

Take it from me, all of us are the same.

Hurry up. . .for what?

My new friend, Terry (see post from yesterday) told me a somewhat amusing story last week when we met. He described for me the approach of one organization that feeds the homeless and then leads them in a worship service. 

"While you are eating, the staff comes through urging you to 'hurry up and eat, hurry up now and eat your food!'" he reported. 

"Every time I've taken a meal from this group, they come through and rush you up before you  go to the church service," he explained.

"Well, one time when they came by rushing us, I shouted back, 'Well, you sure don't rush up the sermons in church!" he told me. 

"They rush the meal and then have us in preaching for two hours!" 

I had to laugh. 

It is said that Jesus preached "good news" to the poor.

I'm wondering what really "good news" might sound and look like for folks on the streets today? 

Is it a sermon filled with religious doctrine to be believed? 

Or, might it be a leisurely meal accompanied by encouraging table talk, unrushed among friends? 

Icons: Mrs. Alexander and the CitySquare coffee pot

During my very first week at CitySquare, way back when it was known as Central Dallas Food Pantry (1994), I made an important purchase:  an industrial size coffee pot! 

I recall very clearly that first day as I broke out my new coffee maker. 

As I worked to set it up and make coffee in the interview room, a long-time volunteer said to me, "What are you doing, Larry?"

"Well, I'm making coffee in our new coffee maker!  I like coffee.  I expect our neighbors like coffee.  So, we can get acquainted over a cup of coffee!" I excitedly explained.

"Don't you know that if you make coffee these people will never go away," the volunteer informed me.

It was at that point that I realized we had a ways to go and grow when it came to community engagement and development.

Well, the coffee maker went to work, and lots of stories continue to orbit around the old pot! 

A couple of years ago, the coffee maker got put up, largely due to the crowds that have streamed into the food pantry for assistance over the past few years.  We had a hard time with the scale of demand for coffee.  Putting the pot up was a mistake, even with the understandable challenges.

Recently, we broke the coffee maker out of the closet!  Above you'll see Ms. Nois Alexander, long-time volunteer who understands the power of hospitality and friendly conversation over a hot cup of Java! 

Glad to see my old coffee back in service!

Intersections

Someone once observed "that the kitchen is the heart of any home, but the porch is its soul."  
I get that.

I've spent a good deal of time thinking about porches lately.

As I've reported previously, every Thursday that I'm in town, I sit on the porch of an old, abandoned house on Malcolm X Boulevard.  I try to bring an ice chest of bottled water to share with passersby, as well as those who choose to stop and sit a while for a visit.

Almost all of the people I meet on this porch live on the streets of Dallas.  Almost all are extremely poor.  Most face challenges that I can't begin to comprehend.  But we have a grand time.

Recently, I sat on another porch that appeared quite different.

This second porch attached itself to a beautiful lodge nestled beside the White River outside Harrison, Arkansas.  Six of us, some acquainted and some not, made the trip to fly fish and enjoy the beauty of the river and its environs.

What a trip!  And we caught lots and lots of trout!

Every evening before enjoying a great meal prepared for us by the lodge owners, we would retreat to the back porch to visit and recount the day's fishing adventure.

After dinner, we migrated back to the porch to look at the stars, listen to the river, enjoy a night cap and visit some more.

On the surface these two porches would appear to have nothing whatsoever in common.

Abandoned, old, decaying house with porch to match versus the luxury and comfort of a well-maintained lodge home with open air, covered porch.

Beneath the surface where things happen that really matter, the two porches share so much in common.

On each porch, men sit and talk and laugh and enjoy each other's company.

On each porch, men reflect on family, finances, dreams, experiences and life.

On both porches, men really connect.

On both porches, men envision a better life, discuss hopes and dreams, recall setbacks and laugh about some truly stupid mistakes.

On both, a group of men enjoy fellowship, community, mutual support.

On each porch things happen, things verbalized that build up and nurture self-worth and value.

As I reflect, the amazing thing to me is just how similar the two "porch experiences" really are.

Here's the challenge:  how do I get the lives of the people hanging out on these two porches to intersect?

I know in my gut that such gatherings, especially if they were frequent, would transform the participants and, even more, our community.

Hmmm.  Maybe we need to plan a fishing trip!

Who in the world???

Can you guess who these guys are?
 

Making change safe. . .

Space for Change to Take Place
Henri Nouwen

Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.

Source: Reaching Out

First Church--out in the Arkansas woods. . .

My experience with "pastoral ministry" began in the backwoods of central Arkansas. My members emerged from the woods on Sunday mornings.

We had no town, just a small, white building.

Composed of Pooles and Barnetts for the most part, the members farmed soy beans, hunted in the woods and fished in the streams. They were solid, lovely, sweet people.

Best of all, they put up with me.

They taught me a lot about friendship. 

They were warm, gracious people.  And, they loved humor!  I could tell stories about things that happened among these folks, all hilarious! 

I remember leaving this church as one of the hard things of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that, ironically,  these sweet people prepared me for life and ministry in an urban context.

I loved them.

They loved me.

Does anything else really matter?

Loneliness and health

Can loneliness really damage your health?

Monday, 23 August 2010
Independent Minds

What is loneliness?

A recent paper in the US journal Public Library of Science: Medicine highlighted how instances of loneliness can increase mortality. But what does it actually mean to be lonely? According to the mental health charity Mind, loneliness is characterised by an unbearably deep sense of separateness.

The organisation's website suggests that people's ability to balance isolation versus social interaction evolves through their lives. "There are bound to be times in our lives when this process of growing up, of becoming separate selves, feels difficult," reads Mind's official advice. "[These are times] when we feel anxious, abandoned, unloved, insecure."

Being alone is not always a bad thing: solitude has been very helpful to many well-known writers, philosophers and composers. Some creative interests developed over a lifetime – painting or sculpture, say – can be an important part of stability and contentment.

How can being alone affect your health?

There is a difference between being alone and feeling lonely. Many people spend time away from other people through choice, whereas loneliness often relates to a lack of support and acceptance within a social context. Removal of social support is almost always to the detriment of our mental and physical health.

It has been shown that loneliness makes it harder to regulate behaviour, rendering people more likely to drink excessive quantities of alcohol, have unhealthier diets, or take less exercise. There is also evidence that loneliness adversely affects the immune and cardiovascular systems, while psychiatric research has demon-strated links to stress and depression.

Who is feeling lonely?

According to a recent report by a British charity, the Mental Health Foundation, loneliness affects men and women of all ages but the younger you are the more likely you are to feel lonely on a regular basis. And women are more disposed than men to feel estranged from society and to experience depression as a result. Factors causing loneliness include: lifestyle changes due to social networking; cheap air travel meaning we may live further from our families; and people delaying the age at which they marry and have children.

In the US over the past 20 years there has been a three-fold increase in the number of people who say they have no close confidants. Someone surrounded by people may still feel desperately lonely. Many people seeking help for over-whelming feelings of loneliness have active social lives, busy jobs, stable relationships or marriages, and family.

How does loneliness negatively affect your health, compared with life-threatening diseases?

The Public Library of Science study looked at data from 148 previous studies and concluded that social relationships lead to a longer life. The negative effect of loneliness on people's well-being is comparable to the impact of excessive smoking and alcohol, and exceeds the effects of no exercise or obesity. The report's authors have called on the media and public, as well as social services and medical professionals, to take loneliness seriously. That said, Mental Health Foundation experts say they "in no way want to pathologise loneliness and describe it at a disease".

What kind of relationships are best for us?

The degree of loneliness relates to the breadth and depth of our social relationships. To what extent do our social networks support and accept us? We are advised to seek and cultivate relationships that make us feel good about ourselves – especially relevant in the age of online social networking.

The Mental Health Foundation suggests that beneficial physiological reactions – chemical processes believed to underpin the link between social contact and good cardiovascular function – occur as a result of physical and intellectual relationships but not when a relationship is virtual. Social networking websites and other technological advances can make it easier for us to keep in contact with people over long distances and long periods of time, but shouldn't constitute a replace-ment for face-to-face relationships.

What can you do to stave off loneliness?

People should look at local opportunities: sports clubs, book groups or volunteer organisations. These are often made available through GP surgeries, mental health services, youth workers, occupational therapists and local authority websites. Mental Health charities support local services that facilitate face-to-face contact, and neighbourhood schemes that encourage people to engage proactively with their communities. Most importantly, the awareness of loneliness needs to be increased through greater public debate.

There is some evidence to suggest that being part of a social network is more advantageous than one-off instances of support, and that help from a friend is better than that provided by a stranger.

Food

Food.

We all must have it to survive. 

Those of us who enjoy ready access to it don't give it a second thought most of the time.  Because of the richness of our blessing, we often miss the significance and power of food.

Food acts as an organizing force for social action. 

Families and friends gather around tables every day to share meals.  Along wtih meals come plans for and reports on the day, ideas, dreams, fears, confessions and actions. 

Food levels us.  Since every single one of us must have it, we must admit that our connection is communal, viseral, organic and universal. 

Evil people use food as a weapon. 

Loving people use it to create ordinary forums for celebration and discovery. 

Food determines health. 

Food affects learning.

Food is all about togetherness, hope and being human.

Food anchors us to the earth.

Food draws out celebration. . .it is the stuff of parties, wakes and home-goings, committee meetings, community organizing gatherings and late-nite, bedtime snacks.

Have you noticed?  Food facilitates conversation, connection and communion.

Consider the place of "the meal" in Christianity, Judaism and Islam--central, reoccurring and defining.

Food is about hard work, growth and the promise of another day.

Food seems to track right along with fellowship. 

Food makes children laugh and run and play. 

The lack of food makes the same children cry and sit and wonder.

Sharing, providing, distributing, manufacturing, growing, harvesting, selling, gathering and eating food nudges up against the Sacred. 

Think about it when you enjoy your next meal. 

Food--not something to take lightly or for granted.

Marco

Partying with "sinners"

With whom do we celebrate?

For whom do we throw parties?



Luke 14:12-14