Volunteering at Glide

Today members of the Saint Mark's community and the teachers and learners from eSibonisweni volunteered to serve lunch at Glide in San Francisco.  It was a great way for them to learn more about the various communities in the Bay Area, and it was a fabulous opportunity to create friendships based upon helping others together.  The photos and captions, courtesy of parent organizer Kelley Warner, document a little of the experience.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this wonderful day possible!

I think the kids are much like the kids here - they don't get the full impact of what they are seeing/doing, but they got what they could.  It's just amazing how some of the playfulness is just pure human nature.  Three of the boys were next to me - we were moving the food trays along the runners and two of the boys were putting salt and pepper packets on the trays.  They turned it into a game - zooming the tray past as fast as possible, so the salt & pepper guys were trying to "hit their mark".  So very funny.  Nomusa  has that infectious smile - the fellow in charge, David, immediately told her that she would be his greeter.  She greeted each lunch goer (client) and gave them their trays with that amazing smile.  I saw her get very wide-eyed when she saw some of the clients that were coming through.  She noticed that one fellow went through the line 5 times.

I think the teachers really enjoyed it. I had a great conversation with Zodwa on the ride home, and she really loved Glide.  She is Methodist at home, and she made this connection that she gives money donations at her church for work that the Methodist church does to feed people, and she said, "I helped feed those people today." 

We drove down to the wharf via Lombard street - so fun.  Then we got down to Fisherman's wharf, and they saw live crabs, and some of the teachers tasted cooked crab and liked it, but commented on how much work it was to get out of the shell.  Then the kids had a blast at the Musee Mechanique.  Carol's friend that owns it greeted us at the door and introduced the museum to them.  Then he took them to his favorite exhibits, and Carol had pockets full of quarters for them to try everything.  It's so funky and fun.  The kids favorite, hands-down, was the driving video games where you feel like you are in a race car, and the grab-it machine where they tried to scoop gum balls.  Some senior citizens were there (I think part of a tour group) and a couple of the women were so taken by the kids they gave them a bunch of money for the machines so they could watch them have fun playing!

As we were driving home two big container ships were passing under the Golden Gate!  So we had a discussion about what is a ship and what is a boat.