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Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

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We are so glad that you are joining us here today.

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And as you can see, I am sitting down here with a few members of Trinity's congregation.

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And these are all folks who are playing a key role in Trinity's newly launched community

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meals program.

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So thank you all for joining me here today.

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I'm just going to start by getting folks to introduce themselves.

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So maybe we'll start here with you, Bill.

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All right.

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Well, my name is Bill Crawford.

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I've been coming to the church now for 30 plus years and been involved in a number of

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different things over the years.

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But I think the last few years, I'm most notably known as Natalie's husband.

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Okay.

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Great.

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And what's your role in the community meals program?

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I was asked to lead the planning team to put the planning together for the meals and make

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it happen.

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So that's what we did over the summer.

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Okay, great.

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And over here.

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And I'm Sylvia Langlois and I am very new to the church.

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We've been here probably less than a year at this point and just really enjoying the

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new community here.

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Okay, great.

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And what's your role?

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At this point, I'm coordinating volunteers for the community meal program.

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Okay, great.

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Thank you.

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My name's Oliver Clough and I've been here for just over a year and a half.

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Okay.

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Around a year and a half.

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Yeah.

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And I'm heavily involved with the food.

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Okay.

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So the planning, the purchasing and the cooking.

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Okay.

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And it's great for me because I was looking for a way to become engaged in the church,

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plugged in.

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Yep.

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And so this is the path that I've chosen.

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Okay, great.

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Thank you.

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Well, yeah, it's so exciting to have you all here.

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So the community meals program just launched a couple of weeks ago with the first meal

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on September 26th.

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That is correct.

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But we know obviously a lot of planning and thought goes into something like that.

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So maybe Bill, can you take us back to the beginning and how did this start?

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Sure.

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Well, the genesis for the community meal program really started with the neighborhood assessment

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that you coordinated, that you led last year.

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And out of that, a number of things came out, but pertaining to us and our conversation

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here, two of the needs in the streets full area that were identified were food insecurity

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issues or concerns and social isolation.

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So there's a combination of people that are going hungry and people in the end or people

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in the community that are lonely and looking for a relationship and for community and not

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just food.

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So that was the needs that were identified.

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And then part of the assessment was also looking at the capacity of the church and what could

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we do, what was possible.

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And then that's when the community meal was suggested as a type of program that would

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respond to both of those issues, both being hungry and being lonely.

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And so then it just came to a point where the church decided they want to move forward

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on this particular initiative that came out of the neighborhood assessment.

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And then Rob called me in the office and told me that he loves me and has a great plan for

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my life.

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And part of that was taking the lead for the community meal program.

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Okay, cool.

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Oh, that's great.

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So this community meals program, why do we think something like this is important for

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the streetsville area?

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What are we hoping to see come out of this program?

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That's an interesting question.

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I think there's so much that a church can give into a community.

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And I've often thought about if the church were not to exist, not big church, but if

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Trinity were not to exist, what difference would that make in the community?

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And consequently, the fact that we are here, that this is where God has placed us, that

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we're not a social club that is inward focused only wanting to do things for ourselves, but

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we are called to be outward focused.

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And so to think about what those needs are in the community and to make every effort

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to address those needs and to be there to support people.

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And if it's not us, then what?

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That's what we are called to as believers, as followers of Jesus, to be the hands and

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feet of Jesus and to make a difference in our community.

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And I think of people who would be hungry, who would be lonely, who would not be in a

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situation where they have that support and that we need to be there for them.

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I think part of it is to have the platform and let things happen.

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Because as much as we have all the intentions, Jesus works and God works in different ways.

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And we open the door and see what happens and what comes in.

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I agree with all of us.

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It's about creating opportunities, creating that safe, comfortable, welcoming space that

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people can come into, enjoy a meal, get to know some people, get to know some of us better

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and become part of a part of community.

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Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff.

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Yeah, no, that's great.

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So obviously a lot of planning and preparation goes into something, a meal like this.

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I understand there was about 60 people at the first meal.

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So a lot of people to welcome and to host.

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So what does that look like?

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Some of that preparation work.

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What do you need to do to prepare a meal for the community?

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Initially it's about putting together a good group of people as a planning team.

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I'm just amazed and blessed to have Sylvia and Oliver and also Heather Thompson and Pradeep

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Benjamin, the five of us together, make the planning team.

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And when we met a few times over the summer, it just became very obvious that this is a

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group of very caring and compassionate people that also have some experience and some skills

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to put this kind of thing together.

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So it was just it was a real ease and a blessing and we just felt that it was that we were

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all kind of part of our calling and our response to our own faith and understanding of the

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needs of the community was to be in that place at the time.

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And it just kind of came together.

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It was really even before the first meal.

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I just felt really good about it.

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And I was keeping I was trying to keep the expectations low for everyone, the planning

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team, the volunteers and just saying, you know, look, that this first one could be just

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basically, you know, a dress rehearsal, a dry run, you know, we'll go through the motions,

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we'll make sure we know what we're doing.

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If anyone comes, that's bonus.

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We've got five or six people, you know, we're going to celebrate because those are five

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or six people that needed to be here.

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And and then I was just I was pleasantly surprised and shocked and and not that I should be because

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God's responded like for things in the past just with abundance.

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But we had 60 people come to the first first meal, which was which was incredible.

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And and there and some of those people were here for the first time.

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Some of them had been visiting Trinity for for meals that we had done before covid.

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And we're just so happy to to be able to visit again.

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And we had a couple of families come and and some people from the senior center down the

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street and indwell down the street.

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And it was just it was a good combination of people all coming together to share a meal

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as the first event or first meal.

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It was great.

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Yeah.

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But it really is a group effort.

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I mean, there were a lot of volunteers.

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We all took the food preparation course.

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We're all certified.

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Yeah.

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We got the kitchen inspected and certified.

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Yeah.

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So yeah, there was a lot that went into the first one.

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As Bill said, it was kind of a dry run.

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See how it went and went very well.

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And we've learned a lot from the first one and we're going to continue to improve and

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make some changes.

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Yeah.

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Moving forward.

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I'm very happy with the volunteer.

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There's a lot of people that seem to want to volunteer and some people that were kind

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of upset that the that the volunteer event and in church center was full.

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I couldn't volunteer.

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And I just say, OK, well, sign up for next month.

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Sign up for the month after.

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We'd love to have you.

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It's great.

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And so I mean, some of the volunteer roles are expected, like, you know, setting up and

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cleaning up and things like that.

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But we also have and welcoming people and as they come in.

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But we also have a volunteer position, which is sitting down with our guests and eating

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because we wanted to make sure that our guests didn't come in and feel, you know, isolated

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in the space.

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We wanted to we wanted to be very intentional about creating a sense of community and just

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making sure that our guests felt welcome and engaged.

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And so and so, yeah, some of our some of our volunteers, their role is to eat and chat

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it up and just and just keep and keep the conversation going at their table.

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And and I think everyone that came on the on the first community meal, they they got

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their role.

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They you know, they're very enthusiastic about either setting up or cleaning up or engaging

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with our guests during the meal.

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And it was a very we had music playing through the through over the course of the meal.

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It was it was great atmosphere.

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Yeah, I think we had people that people had a good time.

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Our chef Oliver cooked the lasagna, meat and vegetable lasagna and salad and warm bread

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and and we had no end of compliments about the about the meal, which was which is great.

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And Oliver cooked for 100 people.

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So we had plenty of plenty of food.

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And another intentional part of the meal is to have takeaway containers.

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So people can not only have the meal sit down and have meal together, but there there's

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also food that they can take home and have something they need for tomorrow.

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That kind of thing.

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So we so we make we make sure that we don't nothing goes to waste.

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Yeah.

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That's great.

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I just want to build on on Bill's comments as well.

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How important the volunteers are is that this is not something that we could do without

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volunteers.

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Oliver is an absolutely amazing chef and so highly organized in the kitchen.

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But we need people to be able to manage everything from in the kitchen to clean up to all of

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the different roles.

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So the volunteers and it's always the kind of thing when you got a new program, people

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are excited and want to get involved, but it's sustaining it as well.

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So making sure that we have people who see how valuable this is for others, for the community

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and for ourselves.

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There's so much that we gain just by giving as well.

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And so to make sure that we have an ongoing flow of people who want to be engaged and

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want to continue this work.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So Sylvia, you just mentioned this idea that like you gain as a volunteer, as someone helping

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to lead this as well.

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So maybe you could just share a bit about like why, what interested you about this program?

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Why did you want to become involved and what do you see yourself getting out of it?

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Yeah, I think a part of me and our history has been very much social orientation and

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giving to others.

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So we've been involved in many organizations in the past for people who directed to engage

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people and involve people who may be feeling a bit more marginalized.

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So I have a particular interest just in reaching out and being there for individuals, whether

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it's in my personal life or whether it's through organizations.

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So this was an opportunity to serve.

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I happen to really enjoy serving people, whether it's in my home or others as well.

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So whether it's serving meals and often there's a meal involved and so it was an opportunity.

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And the church is a bit different environment than it is at home, but it's a big dinner.

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You're just inviting a lot of people to dinner and you get to be able to enjoy hearing the

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buzz and hearing that sense of community, hearing or growing and hearing laughter.

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And as Rob was mentioning this morning, it's hearing joy in the room and that, and so often

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when people are going through difficult things, joy is not what comes out at the moment.

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And so to be able to hear that, I think there's a sense of personal joy that comes from watching

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others in a position of a need being satisfied.

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And so I think that's a really critical part for me.

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And if nothing else, it's a way of serving.

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And I think we all are called to serve in some way.

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And some might be oriented in one direction or another, but it's a call to serve.

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And meals are something we all do.

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We eat three times a day, hopefully, and we serve.

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And why not serve within a context of making sure that we invite others?

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So I do see it very much as a sense of satisfaction that comes from a step that isn't because

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we do eat anyway, yes, it takes a little bit longer to prepare a meal for 100 than it does

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if you're preparing for four or six at home.

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But still, there's a preparation step in there, but it's a satisfaction of having people around.

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And I got to know this wonderful team that I didn't know beforehand.

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Certainly a good byproduct for sure.

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What about you, Oliver?

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So for me, it was when it was announced in church, I heard that knock.

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Sometimes we hear that knocking for us to step forward, and I saw Bill right after in

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the hall.

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And for me, it's a way to serve.

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It's a way to give.

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It's a way to build, not only with the community, but even with the volunteers.

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Because if I want to take a leadership role and get people involved on the volunteer basis

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and let them grow into their faith, let them grow as they serve, it has a platform for

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that.

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So there's a lot of different aspects to this community meal program.

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As we talked about, it's a great platform for a lot of building, building within the

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community, building within the church, building within the volunteers, building for us as

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individuals and building for us grow all together as we practice our faith.

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And you said that Rob had great plans for your life, but you said yes.

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I did.

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So what led you to want to be involved?

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Well, Rob knows me enough to know that I have a heart for people who are hungry or people

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are going, they're disenfranchised in our community.

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So this idea of responding to people who are hungry and people who are isolated with food

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and with community in relationship, that kind of hit me on a core level.

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And so I certainly want to encourage that as a direction for Trinity to go and to reach

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out to the community and make a difference, like Sylvie was saying at the beginning.

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We certainly like during our time here, we'd like the community to feel the impact, positive

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impact of our presence.

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So hopefully being able to provide some good food and good relationship is an opportunity

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to open the doors of the church and allow people to come in and get to know us a little

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better.

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Yeah, no, that's great.

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I think I especially like sort of the point where you started Sylvia, that the question

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of what if we weren't here?

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What would be the impact would people notice?

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And I think, yeah, having the space where we're inviting 60 or more people in to have

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a meal that shows, you know, maybe they would miss us, you know, and maybe there is something,

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a special role for the church here.

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So this first meal is now done.

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What's next?

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Well, as Oliver alluded to earlier, we've learned some things during the first meal.

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I think one of the things that we know we need to grow and develop as a separate team

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is the cooking.

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So Oliver did an amazing job on the first one.

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But being one guy making food for 100 is a big task and the one that really needs to

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be shared around.

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So ideally, we're looking for, you know, two or maybe three other people who have cooking

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skills and the capacity to think big picture around the meal as well in terms of logistics

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and purchasing and just kind of designing that whole thing so they could work with as

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opposed to a volunteer in the afternoon who's coming in to help with prep, which is really

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important.

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We're just looking for a team that can help to plan and organize the meal over the course

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of the month.

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So it's just not on one person on an ongoing basis.

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And that's a big part of this.

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So it's not going to be in our volunteer help with the particular month.

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We're going to build a team similar to the planning team we put together for the whole

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community meal.

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We'll put together a cook team for that.

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Oliver will head up and that way, you know, there'll be a few people that can be doing

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that and it'll take some of the pressure off Oliver all the time.

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So that was a good thing to learn on our first one, not our sixth one after we burned them

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out.

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So we're looking to put that team together.

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And we're just we're we're planning the next few community meals we've committed for a

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year and then then we're going to kind of assess at that point and see if it's if this

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is really kind of we're reaching our goals, if we're really meeting the needs of people

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in the community that are hungry because it's open to everybody.

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But we're specifically targeting those in our community who are facing food insecurity

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issues, you know, whether you're an individual or part of the family and bringing your family

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or your senior or I mean, you're just hearing some of the, you know, horror stories even

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post pandemic of the increasing the increasing number of children that are going without

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without food in our community.

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And we just we really want to respond to that in an effective way.

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So want to make sure that that families are invited to come and and and sharing the meal

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and be part of community.

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And the and and also, yeah, so targeting hunger and loneliness and but trying to do it in

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a way that doesn't stigmatize anybody or anything by making it open to open to all.

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Great.

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And so the next meal is October 24.

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It is the meal is the last Thursday of every month.

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OK, so we've made it like that just to make it easy for everyone to remember Trinity last

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Thursday of every month come for the community meal.

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Except for October.

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It's our second meal, which if we did it on the last Thursday would have been Halloween.

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So we didn't really want to kind of fight with that particular tradition.

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So we're doing it the week before on the 24th.

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And then it's the last Thursday in November.

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And then the last Thursday in December, interesting enough, is Boxing Day.

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It's December 26.

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So we as a planning team, we said, well, do we want to change the date or not?

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And then in the end, we decided, no, that the the the goals of the community meal around

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providing a good meal and providing relationship and community.

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That's exactly what the holidays is about.

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And it's exactly what some of our guests might be missing over the holidays.

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So to be able to do a community meal on December 26, we think it hits really bang on to what

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we're all about and what we want to achieve.

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So we just hope we'll get the volunteers to help us on Boxing Day, because that might

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be a bit difficult.

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But sure.

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That's something if you're listening and watching, maybe you can start to think about now, what

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are your Boxing Day plans?

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And maybe you can come and join us that day.

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Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me and just sharing your stories and about

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this this really cool program that's growing here at Trinity.

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And so if you want to learn more about the Community Meals program, you can check out

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our website, check out the Church Center event or shoot us an email.

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We'd love to hear from you.

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So thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

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And I hope you have a good week.