“I haven’t had eggs in over four months.”
“Breakfast for supper! Wow, that sounds so good!”
“Oh, those pancakes look so good. Can I turn them over?”
Those were just a few of the comments we heard the last time we cooked for the families at Safe Haven. It was a crazy night with a lot of last-second adjustments but it had a beautiful end result.
While we were on our way to Safe Haven the traffic was terrible; I knew right then that we were going to be late and the residents would have to wait for their meal which was supposed to be ready by 6:00. We called to find out that our volunteers were there just waiting for us to arrive. They were waiting because we had all the food in our car! We asked that they preheat the ovens so that the ovens would be ready for the biscuits and sausage as soon as we could get them out of their packages and on the pans.
We finally got there and frantically unloaded the can and unpacked the food. Several of the residents were anxious to know the menu for the night and when they found out we were going to be fixing breakfast, they seemed to not care anymore that we were 15 minutes late! After a few of the volunteers canceled right before we headed to Safe Haven, we had to adapt to not having enough people to cook at each station. So most people took multiple jobs and helped in whatever way they could.
The kitchen quickly began to smell of biscuits, eggs, gravy, sausage, pancakes, and fruit. We also brought a variety of drinks and jellies. There definitely was plenty to eat! In the end, dinner was served, just a little late, and the families thanked us several times for fixing breakfast because they have not had it in months.
We also colored and played with the kids. We even let some of them flip the pancakes while we were cooking. They had a blast! One of them was moving out the next day, so this was his last meal at the Safe Haven. He was so excited.
Smiles were everywhere! Those smiles made it all worthwhile!
-Sydnee
