Volunteer Community at the Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

When my firstborn grandson turned 18, he decided to live outside, creating beautiful meditation camps high above big River in Mendocino. He is a beautiful soul, Wise beyond his years, kind, generous, compassionate, fun. Last summer when he was 21, while riding his skateboard, he was hit and killed by a hit-and-run driver. While I was on the coast for his funeral, his unSheltered friends reverently escorted me to one of his camps. After our visit, we were crossing the highway where he was killed. a car stopped us, A bedraggled group of perhaps 11. The people rolled down the window of the car. They handed us takeout boxes of hot gourmet Mendocino food… Quiche, bagels, quesadillas, scones! Receiving it with gratitude, we stood together on the side of the street,sharing it with one another, eating with our hands passing it back-and-forth ( pre-Covid) it was true communion. Before his death I had been somewhat uncomfortable hanging out with his homeless friends, probably concerned what othe...

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 cook because my mom one day brought me to one of the cooking days, and after being there one time, I wanted to come back and continue to cook with the group from the Center. The first time I cooked was at St. Vincent's. That day we were making a meat dish with mashed potatoes, and I helped make the potatoes, which was really satisfying. I also helped with icing cupcakes, which I also found to be very calming, almost like meditation. When I cook, I do whatever is needed, squishing garlic to chopping carrots. I find that when the group I cook in works, we work together very well, and we make it fun for each other, which makes it even more fun to be with them. The people I cook for are the homeless that live in LGV and on the streets. I work with a group that is organized through the Center for Spiritual Living. I've learned that cooking can be a great stress reliever.

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...

I have been a part of the team cooking/ preparing food since April 2020. Before training and joining this team, I was doing what I could to get snacks, sandwiches, fruit, and love to the hundreds of the unsheltered community through grassroots connections. Our PB&J sandwiches were legendary, and we can do better! And DO. We do better! With hot meals, nutritional sides and salads, And deserts. All determined by donations from farmers, backyard gardeners, gleaners foods, farm to table growers with a shrunken restaurant clientele, Redwood Empire food bank, and private donations. Each cooking day and menu is determined by what is available and donated—or even purchased at Safeway! I love doing this service with my spiritual community. It is the Center of my social life during this time of COVID. Outside of Zoom! It is a sacred service anchored in prayer and love. We will likely never meet the people we cook for, yet their lives and well being are very present in my awareness. We a...

Hi, I'm Jim Strand, and when I first heard of this project, I felt called to participate because Los Guilicos Village is about 5 minutes from my house. I thought we'd be cooking there. How could I pass up an opportunity to be of service to some of the folks recently, and rudely, evicted from the Joe Rodota trail encampment, AND have it be so convenient? St. Vincent de Paul Well, it turned out we would cook at the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen in SR, but I was already hooked. The idea that, even though these tiny cabins didn't solve the problem of shelterlessness in SoCo, I could be a part of an effort to provide a substantial, healthy, hot meal for 60-70 people on Tuesdays. I've worked with Kathryn Jurik for over 25 years on the altars for the annual world peace meditations at the Center and know her to be a creative and capable leader. She was also already actively involved with this same community, so when she put out a request, it was easy to jump in. I missed the fir...