Seventh and Eighth Graders work at The Lord’s Diner once a month. They clean windows, decorate place mats, pick up trash outside the building, scrub tables and chairs, wash dishers, and generally help the staff get ready for the evening meal. Parents, students, and teachers pitch in and help for the 1-1/2 hours the students are at The Lord’s Diner each month. Here are pictures of the St. Joseph team in action, plus reflections by four of the students on what this service project means to them.

Reflection on Working at The Lord’s Diner

The Lord’s Diner is a restaurant across from the Cathedral that feeds the hungry. People came to Bishop Gerber looking for food around dinnertime. It had been a dream of his that no one in Wichita would go to sleep hungry. It has a range of people not just homeless but also elderly, single parents, children, and people on a fixed income. They don’t reject anyone and usually serve 350-500 meals a day. It costs them about $1000 a day. Since they don’t charge, most of the money is donated by volunteers.

While working at The Lord’s Diner, I learned teamwork. While cleaning the cups, we came up with a system and we got done a lot quicker. When we moved onto the trays we asked the boys for help because there were so many trays. I really like working there, and it was better than I expected. I am thinking about getting a food handler’s card so I can help more than just once a month. I liked the feeling of knowing that I saved someone a lot of hard work. It was easier for us because we are younger and more able, and there are sixteen of us. I’m happy to have this chance to help.

Reflections on Working at The Lord’s Diner

I went to The Lord’s Diner today and learned a lot of things. People at The Lord’s Diner are mostly volunteers. They usually serve 350-500 meals a day. They spend about $1000 a day. Bishop Gerber served 40-60 people at night at his own home. Bishop Gerber had an idea of opening up a restaurant to feed the homeless, poor, hungry, and any other people who didn’t have a lot of money. Today we helped the staff move canned foods from one room to another, and then we arranged them up on the shelves. We cleaned some cups and dishes, washed the tables and chairs. We cleaned out some of the cups people use to drink tea, since they all were stained.

Volunteering can help improve your faith and your thankfulness for what God has given you. People at the Lord’s Diner like to help people that are hungry, poor or homeless. They use their time, talent, and treasure to help people in need that really need to be loved and cared for by others to make them feel a whole lot better in their lives. This is what I have learned today by helping at The Lord’s Diner.

Reflections on Working at The Lord’s Diner

These are some of the things I learned when the eighth and seventh grades went to the Lord’s Diner. The volunteers serve 350 to 500 meals a day. It costs about 1000 dollars a day to serve the people that come to eat there each day. The meal would have usually cost them $2.80 a day.

Mostly volunteers, except a few staff members, run the Lord’s Diner. it has two main chefs that cook.  Bishop Gerber founded it almost two years ago.

The Lord’s Diner is there to serve the poor, the homeless, and any other people that don’t have food. The person I worked with was a man named Larry. I helped run the dishwasher. I got to wear an apron.

We learned that you have to have a food handler’s license to work with the food or just to work there. We worked at the Lord’s Diner to help clean and to help the poor, the homeless, and any other people.

I liked it and I hope that next time we have just as much fun.

Reflections on Working at The Lord’s Diner

Today we worked at The Lord’s Diner. It was interesting to see and learn what they do there. They serve only one meal a day. They have a salad, a main course, some kind of bread, and a drink. They serve the homeless, the needy, and whoever needs food. It does not cost to eat there, but to serve the meals costs at least $1000 a day. A lot of the food is donated, volunteers come and work, at least fifty volunteers a night.

This year on Christmas they had dinner. Someone donated some hats, scarves, gloves, and other things so that the needy had a warm meal and a Christmas.

It was good to help out because I saw that there are more people out there hungry or colder than I thought and I need to count my blessings and be thankful for what I have. I am glad we have people in our community like the ones that work there. I am also glad we get to go down there and work.

I learned that it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still do something for the community to help the unfortunate. There are lots of things to do.