Welcome to summer, finally! It seemed a long time in coming but now we are here and what fun to have warm weather to get out and enjoy our beautiful community.



I just had 10 days of vacation around the Memorial day holiday. I spent each day of that time on various bike trails logging 354 miles. I only had two flat tires and for the first time had my bike transported on a flatbed tow truck to the bike shop to repair the flat (see picture, note the flat as a pancake front tire). I now have purchased a small pump and spare tire tube to take on my rides in order to avoid this crazy situation again. But it is good to be back as I truly enjoy the beautiful people that I work with, those that volunteer for Open Hands Midway and the many guests we serve.

Open Hands Midway is such a special place, such a great community to be a part of. Our volunteers are second to none. They give of THEIR time to be here each week. Not because they have to, because they want to. They help prepare meals, serve meals, visit with our guests, clean up after meals, pick up food from Kowalski's as part of the Food Rescue program, staff our food shelf, and so much more. THANK YOU to each one of these beautiful souls for all they give back to this community. Our Chef, Steve, is amazing. He takes such pride in making meals. Our guests are always sharing how delicious the meals are, a testament to the efforts Steve makes to care about something as basic as a meal. I have the honor of working with him and know how much he cares to do his job well. He is a person who goes the extra mile to make sure meals are prepared and served with food safety practices in mind. We are blessed to have him and say THANK YOU for being part of this community. The guests we serve are beautiful souls as well. They come from all walks of life and each of them are so grateful for what we are doing for them. In a world where kindness is not so much the norm anymore, these people are so kind to our staff and volunteers. They thank us, they talk about how they appreciate the free meal and food and they share with others to come and receive as well.

I recently received a card from one of our guests and in that card this person wrote: "Wishing you all the best a day can bring. Thank you to the Open Hands Midway staff and volunteers. We eat healthier because of your work and our diet has more variety. The Monday hot meal we save for dinner. Medical bills have escalated so what you do allows us to keep eating well. I am the one who has a car and comes there. I feel your caring and good will so I am not so embarrassed. Thank you!" It puts a smile on my face to know that Open Hands Midway is making this kind of difference for people.

I want to share one more story from one of our guests. I will not name any names. This person came to our meal program a few years ago, rarely said hi or even acknowledged me when I would greet them at the door. Each time they came I continued with the usual welcome upon arrival and have a good day greeting upon departure. Soon the icy edge was broken and this individual began saying hi and soon began short conversations with me when leaving. It made me smile that I had a breakthrough with them. Well fast forward to last winter. This person shared with me they had gotten, 'jacked', words for being beat up. We talked about that and as the person was leaving they could not get their backpack slug onto their back so I helped. They thanked me. Then this spring the person, who is now a regular if you have not figured this out, came and I noticed that their backpack was unzipped. I stopped them and offered to zip it for them. They said it was broken and they needed to get another one. That got me thinking that I personally have two backpacks and I really do not need two. So I brought it in one day and I waited for this individual to come to our meal. When they arrived I said I had something for them and said they could have it if they wanted it. The person said, "Cool, thanks, this is great" and off they went. The next time we had a meal that person came back. While walking in they pointed to the new backpack they had on and said, "Someone really nice with a big heart gave this to me, I'm not naming any names" and smiled and gave me a fist bump. I smiled too. I think I have a friend for life. Thinking back a few years when that person did not even desire to speak to me and now where we are today, I cannot help but say we have beautiful souls that come through our doors each and every week and I am so grateful that I get to learn their names, call them by their names and share in a little piece of their journey each week. As my life saying goes, "The Reward is IN the Journey", what a journey it is!