I have been at Open Hands Midway for 9 years. I began my 10th on January 1 of this year. I recently had a meal guest come in and ask me if I had heard that Randy (not his real name), another one of our guests, had died over the time Open Hands Midway was closed for the holidays. I was shocked! It got me to thinking of the many people I have met during my time here and I began to take a mental inventory of the guests and volunteers who we have lost over that time. I counted 14 people and that was sad enough that I stopped counting. Then I started to think about a recent message my Pastor had with the question, "Who or what brought you here?" I then decided I wanted to start asking that question of others. I often ask guests who use our food shelf how they found out about us. But what really brought people here? The food, the fellowship, the extra things besides food? It is a great conversation starter and I think I am going to start asking it more, just sayin'...
Maybe that leads you to wonder what brought me here. Ok, here ya go. In 2014 I graduated from Bethel Seminary. Unsure of what I would do next, I decided to ask Pastor Joy Johnson who at that time was Pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (where Open Hands Midway is housed) about how I can connect to a program such as Open Hands Midway. That conversation never happened because I was approached by my late friend Maryls who happened to be on the Board of Directors for Open Hands Midway at the time. The long story short is they were looking for someone and Marlys said (as she told me) "I know just the person." Here I am, 10 years later. Who would have imagined it! While I have left out some of the details in the process, and given you just a brief summary, the rest, as they say, is history, just sayin'...
Have you ever had to keep a secret for a long period of time? That is what I had to do from October 10 through December 20 of 2023. I wrote a grant in hopes of being able to upgrade our current kitchen range w/ovens in August of 2023. I learned we had been approved for the funding in October of 2023. For a little over two months I could say nothing to any volunteers or Chef Steve as it was going to be a surprise. I can honestly say he was surprised. When I led him in to see it, with his eyes closed, I stated, "Merry Christmas from the Open Hands Midway Board of Directors and our funding partners" and then I told him to open his eyes. He saw the brand new kitchen range w/ovens you see in the article above. His response? "How did you get this in here without me knowing, I was just here!" I had to schedule the delivery on a day when I knew he would not be working and then pray he would not stop by unannounced to finish something he may have forgotten. Needless to say he is so excited about this and so are we, just sayin'...
Another surprise came on December 5 when I was contacted by Bev from Farmers Union Agency as they had collected food and personal care items for our food shelf. I asked her how she had heard about us and she said,
"We generally make it a tradition to volunteer during the 4th quarter each year at Second Harvest Heartland (we packed for 2 hours this morning) and we make a cash donation to them as well. However, we also like to choose various local food shelves to collect food shelf items here in our office. I looked at the Second Harvest Heartland website to find food shelves that partner with them, thus this year we chose your organization."
The last blessing I want to share comes from our partners at Minnesota United FC. On December 14 we received our winter wear drive items that were collected or donated at the MNUFC store located at Allianz Field. This is something they have been doing for us on a yearly basis for about 5 years now. Cori called me and said, "We're ready to head over with the collection and if it is ok with you we have some mascots that want to help." Little did I know that P.K. from the United and Cash from Spire Credit Union were going to come over in the iconic Spire pickup truck. As soon as I saw P.K., no offense Cash, I looked at Cori, pointed at P.K., and said, "I love that guy, I need to get a picture with him!"
MNUFC partnered with Spire Credit Union (now known as Blaze) and delivered winter hats, mittens, scarves, socks and many other assorted winter items for us to distribute to our guests. We are so blessed by the many wonderful partners and individuals who come along side of us to support our neighbors in need, just sayin'...
Now here is something fun to share, just sayin'... I have shared my LOVE for bicycling in this space countless times. With the mild winter we had to end 2023 I was able to continue biking until Saturday, December 30. From March 26, 2023 until December 30, 2023 I set a new personal record of bike miles. Let me first say that in 2022 I biked 3134 miles. All I wanted to do in 2023 was get to 3200 and break that record. Well I never would have imagined it but my final bike miles for 2023 were 4802! I know, WHAT! I told you I was addicted, just sayin'...
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