Faith-based | 52 Weeks of Charity

Category Archives: Faith-based

Serving Friday Mission Lunch in Paris, France

Posted on June 7, 2019 by k8mante 5 comments

It was a beautiful, sunny morning in Paris as I walked along the Seine. It was my birthday and I was completely excited to be spending it in the city of lights!

Across the river, the Eiffel Tower’s wrought iron latticework gracefully sparkled in the sun. Below me I could spy on picturesque houseboats moored along the banks of the river and wondered what it would be like to vacation on one of them.

Tourist cameras were already snapping wildly as trinket vendors (les bouquinistes) began to set up their tiny stalls along the bridges.

I was heading towards the American Cathedral in Paris – on Avenue George V, in the heart of this wealthy tourist mecca – to begin my shift at their Mission Lunch.

250px-American_Cathedral_in_Paris_Logo Every Friday, 64 homeless and/or poor guests come for a hot, 3-course meal and dessert served by volunteers in a restaurant atmosphere.

Week 49: Living Water International – Building a Clean Water Well in El Salvador with My Co-Workers

Posted on May 12, 2018 by k8mante Leave a comment

Everyone at well

The first question is usually, “How hot was it?” And I’m never quite sure how to explain it in a way that makes sense. Think about sitting in a sauna fully clothed and in work boots. Then think about playing soccer and football, digging trenches and sifting gravel in that sauna. For 8 hours. That’s pretty much the physical experience. But that does not convey how happy you are. That the heat only really registers occasionally, when you’ve hit the wall of exhaustion. Otherwise, you are feeling fulfilled in a way you just don’t feel in your everyday life.

Week 27: Feed My Starving Children’s Mobile Packing event with Liquid Church: A Holiday Poem

Posted on December 9, 2017 by k8mante Leave a comment

Pastor Tim calls Christmas the season of light

and encourages us to find ways to shine bright

by sharing love and kindness to others in need,

And one way to do this is through doing good deeds.

So when Liquid Church held Feed My Starving Children’s Mobile Packing event,

my husband and daughter and co-workers went.

Week 23: Liquid Church’s Love Week: Spreading Kindness and Connection

Posted on November 4, 2017 by k8mante Leave a comment

kindness heart

The month of November always makes me think of kindness. The start of the winter holiday season is a wonderful time for refocusing and remembering that it takes only a tiny effort to share love! It brings to mind a special story I want to share with you. It’s my interpretation of the concept of Tikkun Olam*, Hebrew for “repair of the world”…

Week 20: A Visit to the Market Street Mission

Posted on October 20, 2017 by k8mante One comment

“Life is meaningless without purpose and hope”…. these were words spoken by one of the former residents of the Market Street Mission, sharing his story with our group of volunteers. His story was unique to him but also familiar to other stories of addiction – a progressive spiral that moved from drinking to marijuana to increasingly powerful drugs, along the way experiencing homelessness, jail sentences, a multitude of court-mandated rehab centers, isolation from family….

The ‘bottom’ – the turning point – is different for each addict. Unfortunately, for over 100 people in the U.S. a day, that bottom is death. For our speaker, the bottom came when a 30-bag-a-day cocaine habit ended with an epiphany after almost dying from another overdose. Eventually he ended up at the Mission’s Recovery Program where he found a place of acceptance, spirituality, hope and possibility.