Tzatziki and the Unhoused
What do tzatziki, the unhoused, and chop boxes have in common? They’ve come together for a Monday cooking club at 703! And I just have to tell you, it’s been bearing fruit (pun intended).
For five years, Kitsap House has been providing meals on Wednesdays (since the early days of COVID) - and even before that, our sending church Chapel Hill was providing meals for teens at the drop-in center at Coffee Oasis. Judy and Dick let me know they’ve been making meals for 7 years! That’s a long time, representing a lot of food and a lot of teens served! And honestly, our volunteers were expressing some burn out.
Feasting is 100% Kitsap House DNA; dropping off food, not so much.
So we worked with the staff and volunteers at Coffee Oasis and our own chefs to consider – how could we do this differently?
The Cooking Club was born so that we could cook meals with the youth from the center and so that they could own serving the food they made with us to their friends! Win-Win-Win!
Here’s what we wondered – and what we found out.
Would we know one another? YES! Diane volunteered for three years at the center without feeling connected to any of the youth individually. But after just two cooking clubs, two gals helped her reorganize the clothing closet. I ran into “A” at the library while on a field trip with Reed. Barb and Steve ran into “K” walking along the riverfront. These are our neighbors, and we see them all the time now that we know them by name.
Would teens want to come? For the most part - ha! To be honest, there’s been a couple of weeks (2 out of 11) with good weather when they’d rather hang out with their friends at the center. But God has brought a couple of rally-ers to the group. And we’re shifting to every other week to give them their social time, too.
What would they want to cook? Greek food! “M” taught us her family tzatziki recipe. They wanted to learn to decorate cupcakes, and my friend Ashleigh obliged. Their favorite is any version of macaroni and cheese and/or chili. And now we’ve learned how to mix those into the center’s favorite “Chili-Mac.”
We are Jesus people. I did wonder, how might we share Jesus by name on a Monday while cooking? Feasting and sharing and serving are all for-sure-Jesus. Would it be natural to talk about him, too?
I got to find out. One day one of the regulars stayed behind to eat even while her friends left (BIG DEAL). I was in my head about my sermon and asked, “Can I share with you a story about Jesus that I’m thinking through?” “Sure,” she said. I paraphrased the story while a couple of us ate and a couple did the dishes. We all had an engaging conversation about God and his compassion. Of course Maddy and I nerded out on the Greek word for “compassion.” This friend of ours is Greek. So I asked, “Would you want to read this story in the Greek? I have a Greek Bible here!” She told me it was the first time she’d ever held a Bible.
I will keep showing up for this. And I thought you might want to, too. So here are a couple of invitations to join us:
First, THANK YOU for supporting the ministry of Kitsap House. When you bring your offering or your gifts here, you provide Maddy and I with the work time to commit to teens consistently. You enable us to cheer on and support volunteers like Diane and our chefs. So if you’re supporting Kitsap House, you’re already in on this ministry! If you don’t already give, you can do so here.
You can cook with us! Guest chef openings are 2nd and 4th Mondays in April, May, June. Email Kirsten to claim a week.
You can cook for the center! We provide a meal every Wednesday. When you drop off a meal, you feed 30 teens at risk for or currently unhoused AND provide a vital link between Kitsap House and Coffee Oasis by keeping us really consistent as meal providers and faces of hospitality. 1st, 3rd and 5th Wednesdays Email Kirsten to get connected.
You can volunteer for Coffee Oasis and serve the meal you make! Talk with Diane Watrous for more of what that’s like.
“She doesn’t talk with people about Jesus,” said the center director to me that next week after the conversation in the kitchen. “But she really enjoyed talking with you. She’s hoping she can share her beliefs with you next time.” ABSOLUTELY.
Thank you for helping us show and share Jesus with our teen neighbors.
Joyfully,
Pastor Megan
