The “Cooking for Smiles” project was a fun experience, where we worked with the staff of Shelter, a daycare facility for homeless people (Diakonie Düsseldorf) to serve food and friendship. This facility caters for basic needs by providing a warm place to rest, subsidized food and counselling. Our goal was to bring that extra on top to make the people feel that the community cares through a fun event; we cooked and served a special three course meal and socialised with our surprise guests as they arrived through out the day.
We were moved by the many tragic stories that we heard but felt encouraged to also hear some success stories. One particular story was of a man that regularly visits the shelter to thank them for helping turn his life around. A true testament of a job well done by all the staff members at the Shelter.
We left the Shelter tired – but happy with the outcome of having served more than 180 guests! We received so many thank you’s and words of encouragement to continue doing what we do. Perhaps said best by one of our guests:
[blockquote]The taste is so amazing – you’ve got the job![/blockquote]
A special thanks to the Shelter team and Bringing Smiles Volunteers and members for pulling off such a special event. It was great to get to know more members of our community and look forward to friendly encounters when walking around Düsseldorf. (Bringing Smiles Volunteers: Eileen Milster, Stefan Hünniger, Petra Hoffmann, Melanie Siebenhaar, Ann-Kathrin Kruse, Vijay Kushan. Shelter Team: Oliver Targas, Philip Machado, Elke Seyfahrt, Kurt Herndl, Andre Gerwin, Nicole Nixdorf, Do Hyun Kim, Christian Göbel, Wolfgang Gleißner, Wilhem Busse (Elvis), Andreas Kratz, Nicole Tschöke, Denis Michel)
24. June 2012
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