[Photo of two other volunteers on the left with Gabriel Barkin [beard] and Leela Newman on the far right]
Stone Soup of Marin in Northern California is a loosely-tied group of friends and Facebook connections; most of the people involved don’t know too many of the other folks; it is just a real grass-roots network thing. Each month, a volunteer crew of about 12-15 Stone Soup people (whomever shows up that month) prepare a gourmet, “home-cooked” meal, in a fully-stocked professional kitchen, for 60+ folks at Marin County’s only emergency adult homeless shelter. The folks at the Mill Street Shelter get a lot of frozen Costco lasagna (and the like) donated throughout the month – they don’t starve, but to counter the culinary boredom, it takes CVI volunteers like Leela Newman and Gabriel Barkin to provide meals that offer big love, positive attention, and especially a full dose of DIGNITY. (And of course, flavor! Oh, and nutrition too.)
Stone Soup provides meals that are served at the Mill Street Shelter in San Rafael, California on the first Thursday of each month. Volunteers help to cook the night before, which is a Wednesday, of each month – this was on July 31st, 2013. (FYI and full disclosure: Gabe and his wife, Janna, help to organize and coordinate the crew every other month, swapping off with the Stone Soup Marin founders.)
Interested in a turn at the stove? It’s fun, free, you get a meal, and you might learn some cool cooking tips. And it also is for a REALLY great cause – there’s nothing more awesome than feeding people!
You may read more about Stone Soup of Marin: http://novato.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/stone-soup-marin-serves-the-needy. By Gabriel Barkin, an abbreviated version
And now, for a preview of the scrumptious gourmet dishes:
