Myself and 4 other friends chose to be of service yesterday, by creating Thanksgiving dinner for those who may not have the means to have it this year. Within just three hours, between the five of us, we collected almost 200$, purely in donations. This is huge, I am ecstatic to know how many people wanted to be apart of this in whatever way they chose to be. Whether it was a friend spreading the word, or the people sending in the money through venmo, cashapp, etc… or even the people supporting us energetically, with their words of kindness, it made this all possible. With this, we had put together enough food to make 24 dinner plates, and still have money leftover which has gone directly into winter hats, gloves, scarves, and socks for the Winter coat drive this week. We gathered all of the food, and head straight to my house and got to work. It is purely magical, how we all just got to work in the kitchen. There was no “You’ll do this and I’ll do that”, there was an ease and a flow to it. We just made it happen. We took all of the plates over to the 7-11 by my house, and at first, there wasn’t really anyone there like I had hoped. and within minutes people were gathering around our car, getting their plate and enjoying an early celebration with us. One woman said to us something that really stood out to me, she said, “I don’t remember the last time I had Thanksgiving dinner.” And that really touched me. We took time to talk and connect with everyone, and the same woman let us know, “You have no idea what this means to me, we get so much flack out here, this is amazing.” And it is comments like that, that keep me going. That is exactly my vision with Moment To Moment, to create a safe space, for connection, vulnerability, and intimacy through service. Especially in the areas of society that are missing it the most.
It really hit me, as I was cooking in my kitchen with four other women, how grateful I am that I have a home to do this in. I used to be the one outside, receiving the warm gifts of service from others. I can count infinite times that it truly saved my life, times that I was so close to choosing out of my life, and one kind soul at a time, I was able to go into my recovery and rehabilitation feeling empowered and loved. I am beyond grateful for this, and so I will always give back for that reason. You never know, and a very wise person in my life, that I look up to a great deal once told me something like this, “See yourself on someone else’s vision board.”
My heart to yours.
-Spring.
guyjih