What do breakfast and karaoke have to do with another? More importantly, what do they have to do with bankruptcy? Usually, not too much. But on this Tuesday morning they had everything to do with one another as this bankruptcy law firm volunteered to serve breakfast at St. Vincent de Paul.
After waking up bright and early, we arrived at the St. Vincent de Paul site on 7th Ave. and Jackson. We were immediately put to work prepping food and setting up for the breakfast serving. We knew we were in for a challenge when the full time volunteers mentioned (more than once) that they wished that more volunteers had showed up and that we needed to move fast to keep the line moving. At about 7:00am people started to arrive and line up for the meal. We were taken aback by the numbers, but happy that we could be of service to so many people. The staff requested that three of the people who came for food volunteer to assist us, and three of them kindly offered to help us. We moved to preparing all the trays so they could be handed out to each person. We were paired with a man named Bobby who both entertained us and touched our hearts. He came all the way here from Alabama, and by a series of circumstances has ended up living in a group home. He uses the computer at his home to search for jobs, but has had no luck. And, after hearing our mention of karaoke for my upcoming birthday celebration, he began to entertain us with his own singing. By the way, he’s a fan of blues and southern rock.
By 8:30, they were closing off the line, and we had served over 400 people, heard some karaoke, and made a new friend. The experience reinforced for us that even the smallest thing, like donating your time, can really make a difference for someone else and will show you what’s truly important in life. We plan on making this a monthly event for our office and can’t wait to do it again. I strongly encourage everyone to contact St. Vincent de Paul and find out how else to get involved: https://www.stvincentdepaul.net/volunteer
