The Matt Talbot Center

 Lunch plates are all lined up and ready to be moved to the dinning room to be served. We always count how many there are in the service and start with that for a plate count then we fix about 12 more "extras" for the late comers and the program participants.  When the service is over the people enrolled in the program have certain jobs to do, helping serve, removing chairs/tables, vacuuming, etc. This kind of helps them "pay" for their program and I think makes them feel good for contributing to the efforts of many to help them get on a better road in life.

My husband, daughter Kristin and I volunteer the 2nd Sunday of each month at the Matt Talbot Center in downtown Seattle.  It is a live-in drug and alcohol rehab program for homeless and low-income folks.  On Sunday's church service is held from 9am to about 11:30 or 12. There is a meal provided after service for anyone who shows up.  We've had as many as 150 and as few as 55 people to serve.  A different church group prepares and serves each Sunday.  I believe the other Sunday's they serve breakfast but as they get done with service around lunchtime I chose to do a spaghetti lunch instead complete with a dessert.  The folks really seem to appreciate that extra bit of a treat, I don't do anything real fancy but it's always homemade. I've been nicknamed "the dessert lady", lol. It makes me feel good that such a small effort on my part can bring such a good feeling in their hearts.                                                                            

 A full hot lunch of spaghetti, green salad, garlic bread and dessert.  Today was Snickerdoodles, the folks down here at Matt Talbot love them!

In February hubby Mark and I will celebrate our 3rd year in volunteering at the center, it's gone by so fast.  When we started on this journey it was through our church, now sadly our small church has closed it's doors but we decided that this was not a project we wanted to stop doing so I informed our Pastor that we would continue doing this service project on our own.  I was thrilled to find out that others in our small congregation felt strongly about our work at the center and have been gracious enough to offer to help fund the meal each month. So we will continue on at Matt Talbot, cooking up and serving a hot meal to anyone in need and hopefully they'll take comfort in the fellowship and prayers at the center.