I just want to give everyone an update on two important activities we will be undertaking over the spring and summer months right here in Stromsburg to hopefully bring joy, companionship, physical activity, and fresh whole produce to our neighbors at Swede Haven and Midwest Covenant Home through gardening activities.

In just a couple of weeks, we will begin planting a community garden at Swede Haven in Stromsburg, which will be one large space open for all the residents there to share. After meeting with the Swede Haven community, together we’ve chosen the following fruits and vegetables for the garden:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Onions
• Bell Peppers
• Green Beans
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Strawberries
• Melons
• Zucchini
• Sweet Corn
• Radishes
• Salad Greens
• Winter Squash
• Rhubarb
• Asparagus
• Okra
• Beets.

After stepping off the garden area, it looks as if we’ll have around 1200 sq ft of garden space, and so I believe we’ll have plenty of room to grow most of the things listed above. We’ll also plant plenty of flowers and place at least a few benches around the garden to allow anyone who is interested to come sit and enjoy the garden activities. Additionally, we’re going to plan at least a few cookouts on the patio at Swede Haven throughout the garden season to enjoy each other’s company and celebrate the beautiful summer weather.

We’ve also agreed to provide regular volunteers to enhance the patio gardening activities at Midwest Covenant Home. We recently met with Michelle Roesener and Claire Quandt to discuss what types of activities to undertake and how we might transform the patio area into a beautiful, therapeutic space for the elders to enjoy. It looks as if we need to overhaul the raised beds on the patio, and do some cleanup work in the near future. We’ll be scheduling a day for that soon – hopefully when the weather warms a bit more! We are planning to provide volunteers to work with the elders twice per week: either Tuesday or Wednesday evenings, and also on Saturday mornings.

I am sending this message to a broader audience than most updates as we are always looking for additional volunteers to help make these efforts as successful as possible. These two activities will require lots of volunteers, supplies, hope, and faith to bring to life in a way that provides benefit to all involved. If you would be interested in helping out in any way, please let me know. If you have ideas that we could incorporate into these garden spaces there is still plenty of time to help plan what each will look like. Lastly, if you could just keep these efforts and the good people at Swede Haven and MCH in your prayers for a successful garden season, we would certainly appreciate that too!

Peace,
Jason

Last Thursday we met with the residents and Executive Director of Swede Haven in Stromsburg to discuss the upcoming community garden and get their input on what to grow.  We were pleased that about 15 residents were there to provide input, and they were very excited by the idea!  We distributed a short “ballot” of sorts and asked them to check off all of the vegetables/fruit they would prefer.  Listed below are the ones they selected, in descending order of popularity:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Onions
• Bell Peppers
• Green Beans
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Strawberries
• Melons
• Zucchini
• Sweet Corn
• Radishes
• Salad Greens
• Green Peas
• Rhubarb
• Asparagus
• Pumpkins
• Winter Squash
• Okra
• Beets

After stepping off the garden area, it looks as if we’ll have around 1200 sq. ft. of garden space, and so I believe we’ll have plenty of room to grow most of the things listed above. Also, we will try to plan for at least a few benches around the garden to allow anyone who is interested to come sit and join enjoy the garden activities.  Several residents also expressed interest in working the garden as well!  Additionally, three of residents expressed interest in joining us to serve meals at Matt Talbot–and all agreed to donate the surplus produce from the garden to our meals at the Kitchen!

Finally, we’re going to try to plan at least a few cookouts on the patio at Swede Haven throughout the garden season to enjoy each other’s company and celebrate the beautiful summer weather!

I do hope you’ll join us!  More to come as we make further preparations!

Just a quick note to let all of you know that we have been given the approval to start a community garden for the residents of the Swede Haven in Stromsburg this spring! 

I am meeting with Cindy Naber, the Executive Director, to discuss the physical location of the garden on Thursday of this week.  I hope to hold a meeting with the residents of Swede Haven in the near future to discuss what sorts of vegetables and flowers they would like to have grown in the garden.  It is exciting to begin this new mission and I look forward to building many new friendships along the way.  Having a garden at Swede Haven should provide us many opportunities to build community over the summer, as well as enjoy some terrific vegetables!

I have also spoken with the Activities Director at Midwest Covenant Home in Stromsburg about volunteering to work with the raised beds and container gardens to create a therapeutic horticultural environment for the residents there.  We will be having more conversations in the coming weeks to bring more clarity about how we can be of service to resident of MWCH. 

If you’ve visited the website in the past, you’ll notice that things are a bit different here – most notably that the group previously known as ‘Servants at Heart’ is now A Place at the Table! 

Drawing upon the momentum of the past few months, we’ve decided to incorporate and seek 501(c)3 tax exempt status from the IRS.  Doing so will strengthen the foundation we’ve built, allow donors to deduct their contributions, and position us to expand our mission by increasing our fundraising effectiveness!

Our mission and vision remain unchanged, however…we are still committed to humbly serving the homeless, the working poor, the sick, lonely, and imprisoned.  We seek to see Jesus in the faces we find at the margins of society, and acknowledge His presence in them with unconditional love.

The year 2009 is full of hope and promise – I look forward to sharing this journey with all of you.  May we make new friends, grow some veggies, trade lots of smiles, fill many stomachs, and plant the seeds of peace, hope, and joy wherever we go in the months to come! 

Many thanks to Pat Sullivan for his very hard and valuable work in preparing the many and various documents needed to incorporate and seek 501(c)3 status!

Servants at Heart shared its first meal with the patrons and staff of Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach in Lincoln this evening.  I want to say a very sincere and heartfelt “thank you” to all of you who worked so hard to make this night a success.  From planning the meal, to purchasing supplies, to preparing and serving – it took many hands and hearts to bring this meal to fruition…I feel very privileged to serve with each of you.  Well done!

 Of course, the last few days have been very busy with last minute preparations, and so the ride home this evening was perhaps the first opportunity I’d had to reflect a bit on my own experience in this effort.   Though many images will be recalled in the coming days, the lingering feeling I recognize from this evening is that of being nourished – physically, emotionally, spiritually.  In this simple act of preparing and sharing a meal with the patrons of MTKO, I glimpsed a profound sense of our collective humanity – the feeling of a few steps of a long journey shared with other sojourners on the path, and already the tug of wanting to do it all again.  As I sit in my warm home with my family sleeping upstairs, I wonder about our neighbors in Lincoln tonight – about how life unfolds for them after our paths diverged earlier this evening. 

 For me at least, this is about much more than food, though I don’t wish to minimize the importance of hunger relief.  I am honored and grateful to have this opportunity to serve others, to help make their journey through life a bit easier, if only for one night a month.  The smiles and conversations shared, the new friends made, and old ones renewed, will last much longer than the meal. 

 Perhaps, through our actions tonight, the Holy Spirit planted a seed or two of the transcendent – that may someday bloom into something wonderful for someone we encountered this evening. 

 Time will tell.   

 And if, by chance, we entertained angels unawares tonight – I can only hope that our small, but determined effort, found favor in their eyes.

 Jason

Our menu for the October 21st meal at Matt Talbot Kitchen has been finalized!  In order to make the best use of some very generous donations of ground beef and apples, we have decided to serve a  baked potato loaded with hearty chili, shredded cheese, and sour cream; green beans; assorted muffins; and warm homemade apple crisp with whipped topping.

There is still time to volunteer to help with the October 21st meal.  If you would like to help prepare or serve, we would love to have you!

Our core group appears to be well-established after our last meeting, and we are beginning to see the fruits of our efforts.  Donations of potatoes and apples have been arranged, which should support the October meal and perhaps a subsequent meal or two. 

We are working on developing a Servants at Heart shirt to be worn during our serving times at the Kitchen, and much discussion centered around its design and procurement.  It was suggested that we also purchase some aprons with the Servants at Heart logo which could be worn by others who participate from time to time. 

Leah generously offered to donate ground beef toward a meal at the Kitchen and some discussion followed about what type of menu we could create around ground beef.  We have committed to finalize the menu at our next meeting on September 22nd so that we can begin to purchase any needed ingredients for the October meal.

A short discussion was held on the community garden plan and our contact with the Midwest Covenant Home director.  More to come on that in future postings!

In faith and hope,

Jason

Hi all,

I am pleased to inform you that our newly formed group, Servants at Heart, now has a small corner of cyberspace to call home! My friend and fellow Servant, David Frye, has agreed to host us on his business site, and did the vast majority of the legwork to get things up and running.

You can find us at www.widesky.biz/servantsatheart ; add us to your Favorites if you wish…

We are gaining momentum day by day, in preparation for our 1st meal to be served at Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach in Lincoln on October 21st!

From this point forward, the website will serve as our primary “hub” of communication; the place where I will post the recap of our group meetings, news events involving the Kitchen, and other information needed to keep us moving toward our many and varied goals.

I want to thank the “core group” of Servants at Heart for all of the support, dedication, and enthusiasm you have shown in getting us off the ground. Your answer to the call, and your commitment to help feed the homeless and working poor is deeply and humbly appreciated. I am blessed and privileged to work side by side with each of you.

For others that have continued to receive my unsolicited emails, I would only ask that you keep Servants at Heart in your prayers as we move forward in our mission. We are grateful for your support! Please know that you are also welcome to join us at any time…many hands make light work.

God’s peace to each of you,
Jason

Hi all,

I just wanted to inform you of a wonderful donation agreed to by CSS Farms of Columbus, a local potato farm and large supplier to Frito Lay.

I called CSS Farms this morning to inquire about picking up potatoes in the field; those “left behind” after the harvesters had passed.  Their office manager, Heather, indicated that potato harvester design has improved to the point where few, if any, potatoes are left in the field after harvest.  As I was thanking her for her time, she inquired for what use did I want the potatoes?  I explained that I was part of a team committed to serve meals to the homeless and working poor at Matt Talbot Kitchen in Lincoln.  She asked me to hold for a moment.

A few minutes later, she came back on the line and asked if I had a pickup truck.  When I said yes, she invited me to bring it to the farm on harvest day and they would send me away with a “truckload” of potatoes!  When I asked what the charge/pound would be, she said, “Oh, we’ll just donate them if they’re for the soup kitchen…”  Of course, I thanked her profusely, and made arrangements to call her again in late September to arrange a date/time to load up with potatoes!

Consequently, Servants at Heart may now be in need of a root cellar or other cool, dark location to store this bounty during the winter months.  Additionally, we may want to identify other avenues of distribution to those in need should the supply exceed the demand for our use at Matt Talbot. 

Tonight I humbly offer up a prayer of thanks for this unexpected, but very timely, blessing.   Peace and joy to all of you in the coming days.

With faith and hope,

Jason Rosenkranz