Helping Other People Everyday (H.O.P.E)

Hey Readers!

Just checking in from another day filled to the brim with volunteer duties. Today was the H.O.P.E ministry's post-funeral luncheon. To put it simply, this organization provides a free lunch after a funeral occurs at the Parish. I got there early today (9am) and we started setting up for the reception. 

We had to organize cups, napkins, make coffee etc. People who are part of this ministry, as well as the family of the deceased, provided the food. 

On the luncheon menu, were sandwiches (egg, salmon, tuna, and roast beef), some from the Pickle Barrel, and others homemade. 

A large assortment of baked goods such as these decadent, chewy, chocolate fudge brownies

Dense and chewy coconut macaroons

Loaf cakes (golden, lemon, honey sponge (my faves!) and marble flavoured)

 

These lemon and raspberry tarts, almost too cute to eat.. I said almost..! 

Pecan, coconut, peanut butter oatmeal, lemon treacle, and date squares

            

Two enormous trays of fruits and veggies with dip

Cookies of various kinds (pecan, ice box sugar, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin) 

And since they were of Japanese origin, the meal wasn't complete without some sushi! 

There were 200 people expected so the tables were simply piled with food!

The deceased was an older gentleman, with 6 kids, and 14 grandchildren, who used to be a doctor and lived in Swan Lake, a retirement residence in our city. 
       


Many of his friends, family, and patients were there for the funeral mass. He was to be cremated, so after the service, his casket got taken back to the funeral home, while his family and friends stayed to celebrate and share stories of his life. It was a beautiful service and I really enjoyed myself!

Working with Seniors...An afternoon of Sandwiches and Bingo!

It was an amazing success! Today was the Senior Social at the church. I left late in the morning (needed to get bloodworm and an ECG done!), and after had lunch at Tims (homestyle bun with deli meats) and then went over to the church. Once I got there, I helped out with handing out name tags, and then went into the church for the short mass.

The seniors were the simply amazing! Something that always blows my mind away when I see any senior person, is the fact that, yes,  there is a circle of life. To watch how similar seniors are to children, vulnerable, fragile and in need of special care and attention, simply fills me with awe. Since I love working with children so much, I should have known that I would really enjoy working with seniors also!

After mass, everyone was ushered into the main hall, where they were served coffee, tea and "finger sandwiches" (egg, salmon, and tuna salad on whole wheat bread...simple and yummy)! Then we cleared the tables, and brought out the dessert trays. There were a variety of different loaf cakes, mini dessert trays filled with lemon squares, small cinnamon buns, coffee cake, and tarts of various flavours.

Once the tables were cleared once again, we gave out bingo cards and they played bingo for the rest of the afternoon! While leaving, they had an opportunity to grab a book or two to read at home, wherever home is (retirement home, hospice, or private home).

Overall it was an amazing experience and I am so glad I did it!

Volunteer Work...Something to consider!

Something I have been really excited about is volunteering. As I am currently out of school, and still not healthy enough to work, I decided to volunteer as a way of keeping busy. Now that its summer, its really easy to find many opportunities where I can donate my time and efforts to. Before I began, I made sure that I knew what I could handle and what I could not. I still get really high anxiety being out of the house past 4pm. This is because in my university days, I had to go to class in the evenings, and I have really bad memories associated with these times. Coincidentally, it was winter at that time, and I just have memories of shivering in my emaciated body waiting for the bus. I can only describe the feeling as J.K Rowling described the dementors:


“An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart. . . ."

Being underweight allows you to experience a whole new level of what cold is. I can tell you here and now that one of my biggest motivations to recover from anorexia is so that I will never feel that cold ever again! I will never forget it and will never wish it upon anybody. It is the worst feeling there is. 


Anyways, (I know I tend to stray of topic!), back to volunteering. I knew that I could handle any task that would get me home before 4pm. For example, there was a group of women who go down to the Good Shepherd Soup Kitchen every second Thursday of the month.  It is from 1pm-6pm. As therapeutic as feeding starving souls sounds, I knew I couldn't handle that right now, and I think one of the bravest and best things you can do for yourself, is to know just how much you can take on and that its ok if you can't do certain things. I volunteer through my church (I'm not at all religious btw, its just that the church had many opportunities available and it was easy to get the forms and things done as it is close to home and I can handle that!). 


So far I have volunteered for 3 different "ministries", or volunteer positions. The first one; and this involves my whole family (can I just say that volunteering with your mum and dad takes family bonding to a whole new and awesome level. With eating disorders, its hard to do things like having dinner with the family or going to restaurants with them. Volunteering provides a way to socially interact with people, while bonding with your family, and at the same time skip the awkward eating parts!) This ministry is called "Coffee Sunday". Basically, after the 9:30 am mass, we serve coffee and cookies to the parish members. Its a great way to meet and talk to people, and you're not pressurized into eating anything, because of course you can use my go-to perfect excuse: "Oh I just had breakfast and I'm stuffed"...(Pat your belly for added emphasis! LOL ) Last Sunday was the first time my family did it, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We have now been assigned the first and third  Sundays of the month to volunteer for this ministry. 

The next one, that's coming up this Monday, is the "Senior Social". Basically, its a little gathering of all the old folks in our church, and they come together and "party it up"... with bingo and prayer services of course! I have to and help with serving refreshments, handing out name tags, helping with bingo etc. It's from 1:30 to 3:30, (I can handle that), and I actually am really looking forward to it. I've worked with people of all ages, however, I've never worked with seniors before! Its going to be a new, and hopefully, rewarding experience. 

The third ministry I'm involved with is called H.O.P.E- Helping Other People Everyday. Basically, they provide free post-funeral lunches for the mourners. I have to help set up and facilitate the whole event. THAT I'm super excited for! The last thing on my schedule right now, is baking cupcakes for Pentecost Sunday (June 8th), which happens to be the birthday of our church. Now this is something I can hardly wait to do!

Notice something dear reader. All these things, they give me an excuse to wake up, and go through the motions of daily life. When I'm struggling and really wanting to restrict, I keep a reminder of what I have to do, in order to help me get through the moment. It takes away all the attention from Anna, and focuses it on something else. It really is exhausting to devote every waking hour to Anna and what she wants. By keeping busy, and by setting these small goals for yourself, it makes everything so much easier! It gives you a reason for waking up in the morning and getting out of bed.


I hope that by reading this, you can be inspired to go find something you are passionate about, and engage in that activity, whatever it may be. Something outside your eating disorder. When you find it, and I promise you that this is true dear reader, it gives you something worth fighting for. In the end, you know that you are fighting, rather that an ally of Anna's. She is a crafty manipulative bitch who cannot be trusted. Therefore, divert at least 10% of your energy from her. At first it will be hard. And then, as practice indeed does make perfect, it will get easier and easier. Good luck finding your passion! All you need to do is look within you to find it...because at the end of the day, you are fucking amazing! And you are worth it. And even though I don't know you, I know exactly what you're feeling. I've been there and I've done that. And I really hope you know that you are not alone!

I don't know much about him...but I like him already!

Today, shifting gears from my latest Buddhism studies, I would like to talk about Pope Francis. I was browsing the internet yesterday, and came across this article the Guardian: http://gu.com/p/3ej27

Pope Francis to wash feet of young inmates on Holy Thursday

Pope to wash feet of 12 young people in Casal del Marmo penal institute during afternoon mass on day before Good Friday

• Lizzy Davies in Rome
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 March 2013 15.34 GMT

John Paul II kisses the foot of a clergyman during the Holy Thursday ceremony at St Peter's Basilica during his time as pope. Photograph: Plinio Lepri/AP

He has already made himself known as the pope who takes the bus, pays his bills and wears his old shoes. Now Pope Francis has taken another step towards solidifying his image as the people's pontiff by announcing plans to celebrate a major pre-Easter ceremony in a youth detention centre.

In a statement, the Vatican said that, for the first time in living memory, the afternoon mass on Holy Thursday – the day before Good Friday – would be held in neither St Peter's basilica nor the basilica of St John in Lateran.

Instead, it would be celebrated by the new Argentinian pope in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo penal institute for minors and young adults on the outskirts of Rome. During the ceremony the 76-year-old pontiff will wash the feet of 12 inmates, a ritual designed to commemorate Jesus's gesture to his disciples after the Last Supper.

The Vatican said the ceremony would be a continuation of Francis's practice as archbishop of Buenos Aires, when he celebrated the mass of the Lord's Supper in "a context characterised by simplicity", including prisons, hospitals or shelters for the poor.

Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI, visited the Casal del Marmo in 2007, but not for the Holy Thursday mass. For the first two years of his pontificate the German pope washed the feet of 12 lay people from the diocese of Rome, but since 2008 he chose a dozen priests for the ceremony.

John Paul II, who also kept the practice of feet-washing to men of the cloth for most of his reign, did start off with similar efforts to Francis. In 1980 he chose a group of homeless men, but the mass was held in St John in Lateran – the bishop of Rome's cathedral church.

In the week since his election Francis has endeared himself to many by bringing to the Vatican a simple aesthetic dubbed "Bergoglio style" by the Italian press.

It remains to be seen where Francis will chose to live: at the moment he is still in the St Martha house where cardinals stayed during conclave while renovation work is carried out on the Apostolic Palace. Upon seeing the grandeur of the large papal apartment last week, however, he was reported to have remarked that there was "room for 300 people".

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