July 2023

Reflection

One of the pillars of Kairos Collective is Just Action.  In May, at the recommendation of Dan Sidner and Dan Grandone, Abby Schumwinger and I took a few of our collective kids to serve at Kinship Community Food Center.  We were blown away.  The folks at Kinship do mission a bit differently than anything I have experienced before.  I asked Abby to share about her experience:

Our family had a great experience at Kinship on Saturday! It was one of the best organized, most welcoming service environments that I have ever participated in. I loved the vibe of the place, which hit us right when we entered the inconspicuous doors, with music that made us feel like we were entering a community party. Everyone, both volunteers and pantry visitors, were equally invited to share in a meal and get to know each other with a real focus on generosity being shared by all who were in the room. I don't know how they achieve this feel, having been to so many volunteer sites that profess to want it not to feel like one-way giving but still end up with a stilted relationship between servers and guests.

As a volunteer, I love how well organized the whole shopping operation was. There were no idle volunteers. I loved getting to know the various families I helped through carrying their grocery bags through every section of the store. The closing conversation with Kinship's founder impressed me, as he explained to all new volunteers the context of the big issues their pantry is working to address. I hope  more folks from Kairos Collective  volunteer at Kinship. I know our family will want to serve there again and again.

In addition, Vincent Noth, the Executive Director of Kinship, wrote a thoughtful column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 23 entitled: Loneliness is an Epidemic .