I can spot a church potluck at 50 paces

I volunteered for an extra session at the Ruth Ellis Center this evening. They've had a bit of turmoil in staff and asked some of the volunteers to come in extra days to help out through the transition. Since I started there a year ago in August four staff people (the ones who work with the kids) have left. Now only April has more seniority than me. Jay is taking over for the one who left a couple weeks ago.

When I got there tonight there was enough of a crowd of workers that I wondered why I was needed. The crowd, 10 of them (I think), were from the Farmington Unitarian Universalist Church. They brought dinner and were ready to serve it to the kids. They almost outnumbered the kids, at least when serving started. The dinner was good ole church potluck -- a ham, salad, assorted casseroles, fruit, and brownies.

The reason why I was there was soon apparent -- I knew what was where in the kitchen and could get things as needed. Several kids, seeing all this bounty, asked for plates to take home. I was asked if there was a stapler to fasten two paper plates (one upside down) together. I actually found one. Though I didn't have pots to wash there were lots of the regular serving dishes to spray and get into the dishwasher. I also helped them pack the leftovers into the refrigerator. There's enough food to last about half of next week.

Those that brought food are part a team at the UU church that does various service projects. This was one of them. Since homosexuality is a non-issue in the UU church there were no negative vibes coming from this group. Alas, there was a sour note to the event -- one of their cars was vandalized.

I thought a lot this evening about my friend from Chicago who teasingly accused me of being a closeted Unitarian because I've talked to her about how much church doctrine gets in the way. I would normally send her this posting, but alas she died this past Wednesday of ALS. Her husband emailed me today (in response to a note I sent yesterday). I had met this good friend at Bay View, Michigan during the annual Week of Handbells. For many years we were positioned next to each other. Goodbye my friend.