Spring
2010
REPORT
Taking It Up a Notch
A few Saturdays ago, I was finishing icons in the barn while listening
to the great line up of NPR programs: Car
Talk, You Bet Your Garden, A Chef's Table and Fresh Air. There was nothing
significant on Car Talk, but
the other three shows really were packed with thought provoking
perspectives on food. Dave Lieberman and Anahad O'Connor, authors of The 10 Things You Need to Eat, were
among the interviewees. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Rules, was referenced.
I acquired Food Rules and 10 Things and began my education on
nutrition. One weekend, I made three recipes from 10 Things: one with avocados, one
with spinach and one with beets. I started feeling better almost right
away.
The following Thursday night, several of the men whom we serve told me
that our food is the best that is served at any of the sites on any
night of the week. A normal person might just take this as an
affirmation that he is doing the right thing and continue in the same
manner; but my mom didn't raise me to be normal. I tend to be
suspicious of praise and begin to analyze.
If our food is the best, it had better be truly sound and healthy
nutrition. We cannot just fill in a gap in the week; the meal ought to
be truly beneficial. Better nutrition is not just for our household,
but for our brothers and sisters on the street. This responsibility
hits even harder, if we are going to take on another night in the week:
Tuesdays.
So, it's time to take it up a notch or two. This may mean that our cost
per meal served may exceed $1.92. But it doesn't need to break the
bank, either. The Golden Rule tells us that we need to care for their
nutritional needs in the same way that we would have our nutritional
needs cared for.
It's a process or a journey. I'm not talking about becoming a health
nut or strict vegetarian or trying to impose strange, unappetizing
foods on homeless people. There are simple things that we can do. We
can use more whole grains; substitute qinoa or amaranth for some of the
rice in the soup. We can use more fresh vegetables and add more greens.
I will share some of my suggestions in this newsletter and we are happy
to hear yours in reply.
Where's the
Punchline?
One of the first Thursdays in Lent, I heard from a Greek priest, a
Russian priest and an Antiochian priest that they were each going to
join us on the street that evening. I told Bethann and Hilary that at
the dinner table. They both looked at me waiting for the punchline.
We did have great fun that night on the street. It was a joy to meet
Fr. Chris from Holy Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Elkins Park,
and his lovely Presbytera Joanna. Fr. Joseph Toroney & Mat. Cathy
and Fr. Noah Bushelli were there. Holy Annunciation is exploring ways
to be involved regularly, long term.
This means we have people and resources from two Russian Orthodox
churches, one Greek Orthodox church, one Albanian Orthodox church, two
Antiochian Orthodox churches and one Roman Catholic church, faithfully
involved serving the poor in Jesus' Name, together. This is a
fulfillment of part of the founding vision of The King's Jubilee. Read
Ephesians 4. I get goosebumps.
Plant Another Row
This Spring, while you are planning and planting your garden, plant one
more row than you normally would. When harvest time comes, give some of
the firstfruits at the beginning and the overflow at the end, to help
feed the homeless.
Through the years, we have learned to be very creative in our use of
ingredients. I'm going to try growing quinoa and amaranth. They are
beautiful, 4' to 8' tall flowers that can grow well in our area.
We can use sweet potatoes, spinach, green beans, squash, beets (with
the greens), cabbage, broccoli, carrots, peppers, whatever! Don't
forget the herbs and spices. We go through a lot of them: garlic,
basil, sage, lovage, parsley, celery leaves, cilantro.
This will give added purpose to your gardening. Gardening is a great
way to include the whole family in important lessons of sowing &
reaping, faithfulness in service and God's marvelous provision. If
everybody learned these lessons by gardening or farming, we would need
far fewer prisons and perhaps no homeless shelters.
Get your hands in some dirt. Get rooted in life!
Sandwiches
For over twenty years I have been giving the same instructions to those
who want to make sandwiches. It goes like this: Make the sandwiches
like you would like to eat them, except no mayonnaise, (because of the
eggs going bad). Put the sandwiches in individual baggies; stack them
back into the loaf bag and write on the bag what kind of sandwiches
they are. Then I would say, "But use white bread, because the guys
don't understand whole grain breads."
As confused as Bob Dylan may be about any number of things, he is right
about this: "The times they are a changing!" Whole grain breads are now
understood and preferred by a growing portion of our customers. So, if
you can afford it, and that is how you like your sandwiches, make them
with whole grain breads, whenever possible. Thanks!
Donate Fruit
Fruit has always been a luxury item on our menu, but it is so
beneficial in so many ways. The fiber, the vitamins, the portability of
fresh fruit. A high percentage of our clientele are diabetic, so whole
grains and naturally sweet treats are to be preferred over simple
carbohydrates and refined sugars.
Apples are not a good choice, unless they are applesauce, because our
people do not have good teeth. Fruit salad is welcome. Bananas,
oranges, grapes, peaches, cherries, whatever is in season. Thanks!
Make Extra Easter
Eggs
The incredible edible egg! This Pascha, have as much fun as you want
boiling and dying eggs without worrying about who is going to eat all
of them, before they turn south. Save the cartons. Put them back into
the cartons and get them to someone who is going to serve the homeless
on a Thursday night, so we can give them away. They fit nicely in a
pocket and provide a healthy snack later or a breakfast the next day
for someone.
It doesn't even have to be Pascha for you to do this. Even if it is,
you don't need to color them. Hardboiled eggs are welcome any time.
Just make sure that you cook them enough in advance, so that they are
thoroughly chilled before you give them to us.
Thanks!
Mark Your Calendar
We have had such good times the last couple of years at our TKJ
picnics, that we are going to try it again. This year, Dormition falls
on a Sunday, so we'll try that. That's Sunday, August 15, at our house
in Souderton, after Liturgy, of course. It's potluck. At least two
grills will be running. If anyone else wants to bring another, there's
room.
Horseshoes, badminton, bocce ball, if any one can find the jack ball.
Bring lawn chairs and squirtguns if you want. Tish, can you make
brownies?
Consider the
Lilies ...
Something else we have done the last two years is a daylily sale. I am
not announcing another daylily and hosta sale.
Now I want you to let those plants do their work to remind you all
through the warmer half of the year to remember the poor and homeless
in your flowerbeds, in your gardens, in your kitchens, in your prayers
and in your pockets and purses.
I am so excited to see the pussy willows fluffing, the daffodils and
crocuses blooming and the daylilies poking up through the soil. God
loves us so much! He made such delights for all of us to enjoy.
Summer is the busiest time for The King's Jubilee. Fewer shelters are
serving meals. More people are comfortable on the street. Our customer
numbers go up. Some volunteers take vacations. Giving tends to go down
during the Summer.
On the other hand, this is the easiest time to help serve. School
schedules don't interfere with sandwich making or coming along to
serve. It is light out when we serve. It is considerably warmer, with
hardly any chance of ice or snow.
Please join us this Spring and Summer. Put it on your calendar as a
priority. Let's help give hunger a vacation.
Tuesdays
The plan is to start serving one Tuesday night per month, in addition
to Thursdays, starting in May. We are stepping out in faith here. A few
volunteers have said they can help or switch to Tuesdays. Financial
support has not increased to cover the additional meat and supplies
needed, however. I am not really worried. I have found in my life that
God's provision is like his forgiveness, like water in a pipe.
Jesus teaches that if we do not forgive men their sins, we will not be
forgiven, but the instant we do, we are forgiven. In fact, we do not
even have the power to forgive sins. It is only God's forgiveness
moving through us that allows us to see our brother as forgiven, as we
are forgiven.
It's like the mystery (at least to me) of incompressible water in a
pipe. when you turn the spigot which water moves first? The first drop
in the sink, the one right behind it that pushed it or the water at the
top of the water tower that determined the pressure and speed? It all
moves at once. Amazing!
That is how I have seen God provide for this ministry through the
years. There is never a surplus, but there has always been enough.
There would be no reason for God to supply money and resources to sit
around gathering dust and mold. If we have a good use for it in Jesus's
Name, God supplies.
Sometimes he uses people who don't even believe in Him to do it. It's
such fun to witness! But it's even more fun for you if you can be a
willing conduit for God's provision.
May God richly bless you as you bless the poor in Jesus' Name.
Holy Thursday
We do not serve on the street on Holy Thursday. The 12 Gospels service
is too important to miss. If we do not take care for our own spiritual
health; how can we be of any use to heal others?
Thanks for the
Power Packs
St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church School students made hundreds of
power packs for us to give away. Parishioners at St. Philip Neri R.C.
Church made about 100. We were able to give one to everyone that wanted
one each week in March.
Your
Money is Needed, too.
If you want to participate in this ministry to the
homeless and poor on the streets of Philadelphia, please feel free to
mail donations to:
The King's Jubilee
27 N. Front St.
Souderton, PA 18964-1148
phone: 267-497-0267
email: TKJ@shoutforjoy.net
Thank you. May the Lord bless you as you bless the poor in Jesus' Name.
Peace,
Cranford Joseph Coulter
Why do you taint
your wealth contaminating it with unjust gains? Why do you make your
offering an abomination, attempting to show mercy to one poor person by
offering what you have taken from another through injustice? Show mercy
rather to the one you have wronged, and you will fulfill mercy with
justice. God has nothing to do with greed; neither is the Lord a
companion of thieves and extortioners. It is not because God is
powerless to feed the poor that he has left them for us to care for,
but rather because he desires that we should be fruitful in justice and
kindness through our own good works.
- Pseudo-Basil, On Social Justice,,
SVS Press, p. 105, "On Mercy and Justice"
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