I am indebted to Marissa Fitrakis and to the donors and the volunteers
(supervisors, kitchen staff, food preparers, chefs, sous-chefs,
carvers, cutters, servers, drivers, waiters, barmen, dishwashers) and
the staff of Vintage House Senior Center and to the senior citizens of
our planet
who inspired this conversation.
It's an amazing undertaking preparing and
serving
Christmas dinner for two hundred people. It's
extraordinary
doing it twice on Christmas day - once in the morning and
then again in the afternoon.
Nine years ago I decided I wanted to
serve
on Christmas day rather than receive. What surprised me when I began
contacting groups and facilities offering to volunteer, was how many
people had the same idea, so much so that all the groups and facilities
I contacted thanked me for offering to
serve,
and then asked me not to come. They had way
too many volunteers already.
That's nice, don't you think? So many volunteers wanting to
serve,
that they ask people not to come. And that's not just in my home town
of
Napa.
That's the entire
Napa Valleyand the entire San Francisco Bay Area. What I've learned
is I need to make sure I'm listed to volunteer a year ahead. Now,
immediately after I prepare and
serve
Christmas dinner for four hundred of the infirm and the elderly, I
ensure my name is down for
next
year. It's something not to be missed. It's quite literally
the only game in town
on Christmas day - at least in my opinion.
The two hundred meals we prepare in the morning are for people in the
local community who are too frail to prepare a meal for themselves, or
they're bedridden and can't get out of bed to come over here for
Christmas dinner. So we take Christmas dinner to them. A team of
drivers wait for ten dinners each, the ingredients of which fit
perfectly into compartmented boxes. Each has a map directing its driver
to the home of its recipient where the meal is
served
to them. That's right: if they can't make their own dinner or come here
for one, then we'll take Christmas dinner to them at home.
The two hundred meals we prepare in the afternoon are for elderly
people in the local community who can get here for a sit down meal in
the big hall. And it's an awesome sit down meal. White tables with
brilliant centerpieces make a spectacle for the proceedings. Once
everything is in place, my job is to pour gravy on top of the mashed
potatoes on each plate which is passed to me from my right. I figure
out how to do it just so. I make a small well in the mashed
potatoes by pushing down on them with the back of my gravy ladle, then
carefully fill it with gravy, not spilling any.
Given all the
servings
plus a few seconds, I do it two hundred and twenty times. Then when I'm
wearing another hat walking around clearing empty plates from the
tables so the pumpkin pie can be
served,
a gray haired gentleman sitting at one of the tables thanks me and asks
me whether I cooked the meal. I tell him no, I only put the gravy on
the mashed potatoes. He's genuinely impressed. He says
"Excellent
work Son. You should put that on your résumé.". He means
it. He noticed. Listen: you think putting gravy on mashed
potatoes is too trivial an act to make a difference with people? Think
again ...
Later at another table I place a plate with a slice of pumpkin pie in
front of each guest. An elegant elderly woman in a wheel chair takes my
hand as I pass her. Her grasp shakes my entire arm (probably
Parkinson's) but she doesn't seem to mind or notice. "Thank
you for serving us this wonderful dinner!". She's effusive.
We talk for a while, hand in hand, me standing over her with an armful
of plates with slices of pumpkin pie, she sitting on her wheel chair
looking up at me,
lit up
- and shaking. I tell her "I've tried both options: sitting down with
you for Christmas dinner ... or ...
serving
you Christmas dinner, and I think I prefer
serving.".
She laughs. I laugh. "Thank you for allowing me to
serve
you" I say. She gets it. She says "You've all done a
wonderful job. This is like a five star
restaurant.".
What a grand lady! I hope she comes back
next
year. And if she can't make it, then we'll take Christmas dinner to her
at home.