Sharing what I love
Volunteering runs in our family. My grandmother used to teach the kids in the neighborhood how to play the piano and read music. She would pay them a quarter every time they took a lesson, so that they would come back.
My mother taught me to volunteer. She was always volunteering at our church or sponsoring a family that had been displaced after the war. She started the Head Start preschool program in Franklin Ohio, when my brother and I were in Elementary School. She was the Girl Scout leader of my troupe for years. It was just something you did.
I have volunteered for women’s issues since I turned 18 and could vote. I know how to cook for large groups of people, and once a month I cook for The Dolores Project, a shelter for women, and the LGBTQ population that “partners with individuals experiencing barriers to housing to identify their path to stability.” I have always had more than enough, so I am happy to give some away. I have volunteered with Slow Food Denver to teach kids how to cook, and learn where food comes from, called Seed to Plate.
One of my favorite stories working with Slow Food is teaching elementary school kids how to cook breakfast. The first thing to learn is how to crack an egg. We work with 10 children at a time. I was with one of the younger boys and I handed him his egg. He watched my partner Darcie crack an egg and put it in a bowl. Then he SLAMMED his egg on the table, it crumpled in his hand, and he started to just bawl. I grabbed his hand, and we got the egg in the bowl without a single shell. And he learned how to crack an egg. I forget the simple things you need to know when you are just learning to cook! Like why you put a little butter or oil in the pan before you put the scrambled eggs on to cook and what fresh noodles look like when you make them from dough.
I do things that make others feel good, and I have fun!
