Volunteer Community at the Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

I joined the group of earnest, big-hearted souls at CSLSR committed to addressing the issue of hunger for our neighbors across the way on the Joe Rodoto Trail. There was such a blatant need, I couldn't turn my back on it. After all, I was a child of the Kennedy era where we were asked what we can do for our country. It was a lively meeting with ideas flying like meteors through the air. Not being a real group-person, I almost left. But this was bigger than my little introverted self. We all wanted to do something but needed leadership. I think we sort of volunteered Kathryn to organize us into what became a streamlined assemblage of food (donated and homemade) in the Social Hall to be carried and distributed across the highway to the trail-dwellers. Then the trail was closed and the residents were dispersed throughout the county. People still need to eat. We were able to continue cooking, gathering, preparing food for those newly sheltered at Los Guillicos where we were able to int...

I've been cooking on Fridays with our Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa group. The joy I get from this community participation is beyond measure. We all show up and start chopping, peeling, mixing, baking, roasting---whatever is available from the generous donations of food and supplies which keep appearing at the Grange in Sebastopol!  Miraculously, at the end of several hours, 140+ meals miraculously appear to be distributed to those who are in need of a healthy home cooked meal. The colors and textures are a feast for the eyes and the abundance is joyous to behold. And though we are masked and keeping our distance from one another, the camaraderie and sense of community is so palpable. It's just a great feeling-- doing a little piece of Good in the world which at this time is so needed. I feel so blessed to be able to participate with this group.

I'm sitting outside right now doing my Beyond Limits homework. So I am in The Zone. I want to answer the question about WHY I do this. "Why" questions work for me. They make me think deeper. My life word is "significance." I can't live without it. Since I retired from being an ED nurse after 43 years (actually, it is precisely two years ago today!), I have searched for my significance. I did some volunteering with Acts of Kindness on the Joe Rodota trail and saw firsthand what it is like for homeless people to survive in their plastic tarp hovels. As a triage nurse in the hospital, I never had gotten to witness their situations. I only heard about their problems. Part of me didn't believe it could be that bad. Walking on the trail after a rainstorm where everyone's belongings got soaked, I saw what it was like to be out there in the cold and rain and wind. It was horrible. Just horrible. That's why I do what I do. A friend and I use...