Dear World,

Recently, I went away on holiday to London for a while to experience a new environment and also to celebrate the 70th birthday of my aunt. While there, I made it my duty to pay it forward and identify at least one opportunity to volunteer with an organisation doing good work. While in the act of kindness, I made some key observations and in true Suburban Girl JA® nature, I pulled some lessons from the experience. I’d like to share some of them with you.

Firstly, I only took one photo and that was of the building I volunteered in. I chose not to capture shots of other volunteers, and I wouldn't even have considered shot of the people being helped. 

Prior to my arrival, I inquired about opportunities to serve, and I came across a few. However, I learned that my aunt’s church hosts what they call a bi-weekly ‘Tuesday Lunch’ that serves the homeless in and around the community. Of course, it’s not novel for a church to serve their community in that manner, but it still warmed my heart and I’m glad that I could be part of it while I visited.

The church, Calvary Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Tottenham Assembly, is located fairly close to the award-winning Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It seems to be filled with a congregation that yearns to serve their community and positively impact lives. My observation also suggested that it has a strong Caribbean influence with quite a few Jamaicans as part of their church family.

Though I grew up in a Christian household and live mostly by Christian beliefs, I am not a Christian and I don’t go to church regularly as I often struggle to understand the religion’s thought process. However, there are some values that I have no issues with. Regardless – volunteerism and serving vulnerable groups is something that I love to do. I live for it.

That aside, the Tuesday I went, tardiness was my middle name. I promise, it wasn’t my fault. I guess you can say I showed up in ‘Caribbean time’ – if you know, you know 🤭. I thought that I had missed the opportunity to serve, but I was right on time! I went in, greeted everyone and introduced myself as my aunt’s niece, did the ‘excuse me church shimmy’ walk, took my coat off, washed my hands, then put my gloves and apron on.

My assignment was to ladle the vegetable soup as the soup lady for the day. There were various meats, about three types of rice, vegetables, ?fruits? (I think…can’t remember), and beverages to create a warm meal for each recipient. Additionally, they also received what I call a ‘blessing bag” with groceries and other necessities.

I had a brief conversation with one of the leaders of the initiative and she told me that they sometimes have gently used clothing that recipients can take if they need. Those items, as well as other necessities are donated by church members or well-wishers. Others, I believe, are bought new.

Context into COGIC Tottenham’s ‘Tuesday Lunch’

Based on the conversation I had, the COGIC Tottenham bi-weekly ‘Tuesday Lunch’ was originally started in late 2019 and was paused for a few months into 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the church noted that most local food banks had either shut down or downscaled. They then saw the opportunity to restart the ‘Tuesday Lunch’ to fill the gap and help the less fortunate. They’ve been doing it ever since.

I understand that at each staging, the church serves approximately anywhere between 60 and 80 persons – sometimes more. Some folks are unhoused, while others may have varied forms of disability, and even more heartbreaking, is that a few might be addicted to drugs and their life’s journey have gone in an unsavoury/undesirable direction. The initiative also extends to church members who are ill at home or in the care of medical professionals (meals are packaged and taken to them).

The beauty in service, however, is that there is NO judgement, everyone is equal, and we do our best in service to positively impact lives.

All in all, the experience in serving and the conversations I had for that ‘Tuesday Lunch’ left me with life lessons, and I’d like to share them with you. Of course, these lessons might act as a reminder while others might be new to your thought process.

Humbling, Healing, and Edifying Life Lessons

Before I start, let me preface these lessons by saying that I am well aware of toxic positivity and that is NOT what my intention is. I’m also aware of relativity. So, two persons going through the same struggles or wins will experience them differently.

Take from that what you will.

• You are so much more blessed and fortunate than you think or choose to acknowledge. Don’t take your perceived ‘little’ for granted. Though your own life’s issues have their own weight – and acknowledging it is important – don’t forget others who also have their own life struggles that may be much worse than yours.

• Putting love in any volunteer work you do will be received well by those you go in service for. Those who received the meals and groceries were so thankful. I lost track of the ‘bless you’ proclamations I received.
• When a community chooses to do volunteer work, it blesses a multitude of people. I didn’t do much research into the rate of unhoused people across the UK, but I know this one church’s efforts makes a dent in the overall situation. In the same ways that it takes a village to raise a child or a village to support a newborn mom, etc., it takes a village to care for a community of vulnerable people.
• It takes cash to care. There are folks out there who believe that volunteer work is cheap and free. It is not. With a high cost of living, food is expensive for many. As such, the meals prepared – though made out of love – has to be bought. Facilities and utilities must be used. Transportation and human resources ought to be factored in as well. It all adds up. So, let’s not take it for granted that the logistics and aspects come easy or cheap. It takes cash to care. Bear in mind, as well, that dependence on donations or reaching into one’s own pockets are crucial parts to the process.

I’m sure there are other lessons that I can extrapolate from the experience, but these will be all for now. What do you think?

Be blessed everyone.

Signed,

The Suburban Girl JA®