Miriam's Kitchen

Today, C&W took 14 people to Miriam's Kitchen in Washington, DC to prepare and serve breakfast to the homeless men and women of DC.  Wow!  What a humbling and inspiring experience.

Before I delve into exactly what we did, let me first give you some information about Miriam's.  You may already know (or have read) that Miriam's is in essence a soup kitchen, but according to their staff, they actually refer to it as a "Super Kitchen" b/c they provide so much more than a healthy meal.  They provide services such as case management and studios to foster self-expression, empowerment, and positive relationship-building.  Sounds pretty "super" to me!  :)
According to their literature:
"Miriam's Kitchen provides nutritious meals and comprehensive support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women each year.  The majority of our guests are chronically homeless - meaning they have been homeless for a year or more, or four or more times in the past three years.  In fact, the average length of homelessness of our guests is 4.75 years."
Here are some cold hard facts that Miriam's provides to us:

• Nearly 80% of our guests live on the streets or stay in emergency shelters.
• Only 20% of our guests are in transitional or permanent supportive housing.
• 90% of our guests are male
• 70% of our guests are African American.
• 13% of our guests are Veterans.
• The median age of our guests is 48.

Those facts alone are enough to weigh on the hearts of all of us that were preparing to volunteer for this event, but experiencing a breakfast shift at Miriam's put faces to those facts and made us fully understand the extend of what the guests of Miriam's are enduring each and every day.
Miriam's has been awarded "Best Place to Volunteer in DC" by the Washington City Paper, and after this morning we all know why.

Our 14 C&W volunteers were:
Christin Morgan - C&W Corporate Office
Janine Davy - C&W Corporate Office
Marty Flaherty - C&W Corporate Office
Deirdre Holliday -C&W Corporate Office
Cheryl Oliver - C&W Corporate Office
Steve Hahn - C&W Corporate Office
Kathy Stoddard - C&W Corporate Office
David Melugin - Hilton Springfield
Miguel Gonzalez - Days Inn Connecticut Ave
Fatiha Sehbaoui - Days Inn Connecticut Ave
Patti Bernazzani - Days Inn Connecticut Ave
Peggy Washington - Days Inn Connecticut Ave
Donald Saunders - Holiday Inn Greenbelt
Stacey Holliday - Sister to Deirdre Holliday (C&W Corporate Office)

As we were signed up for the breakfast shift, we all arrived there promptly at 6am.  We signed in, threw on our aprons, and without a moment's hesitation by the Miriam's staff, we were put to work!  And we wouldn't have had it any other way.
Tom was our head chef this morning and he assigned us all to our specific tasks.  We did everything from peel apples, slice tomatoes, kneed dough for biscuits, scramble eggs, and even hand make crepes.  I'd like to think we showed some skill in the kitchen, but I can proclaim with certainty that some of us were more comfortable than others.  You know who you are.  HA!

Once the cooking was complete, the food was served!  The menu of the day was crepes with the option of fresh strawberries and syrup as very yummy toppings, eggs and sausage patties, plain or cheese grits as well as warm, homemade cream biscuits, all rounded out with salad and the fruit of the day which was clementines.  Mmmmmmmmm!

Out in the dining room, there was also cereal and, of course, the most important part of breakfast....COFFEE!  And lots of it!

Once breakfast had been served, we were free to go.  JUST KIDDING!  Someone's got to do the dishes!  The true story is, once the breakfast was served, we went right back to work, cleaning up the mess we had made.  We (mostly the work of a few very diligent volunteers) washed pots and pans and others washed and dried the trays.  Others of us (wink wink) weaseled out of the all dirty work by taking pictures!  I mean, someone had to document the experience, right?!  But seriously, even after thanking the staff for letting us come help, taking pictures, and talking to the guests, we all chipped in to help put the kitchen back in the clean shape it was in before our arrival.

What a truly amazing, incredible, humbling, eye-opening experience!  There aren't enough adjectives to describe how wonderful our time spent at Miriam's was.  I wish everyone could witness the love and care that was given to the guests by the staff and volunteers this morning...and the gratitude they show for it.  And we only experienced one day of that!  The most amazing part of Miriam's is that they do this EVERYDAY!  What a joy it is to step outside of ourselves and give back to others less fortunate.  It really is a practice that should be performed more often.

Before I end this post, I want to take a moment to thank the incredible staff at Miriam's who not only helped prepare us for our shift but also provided a fantastic experience for our first time as Miriam's volunteers.  As mentioned above, Tom was our lead chef this morning.  He was accompanied by Noelle and Drew.  They helped us feel right at home, like we had been doing this for years.  Also, a huge thank you to Ashley and Jen who came to the C&W Office to provide us with a pre-volunteer orientation and get us excited about the shift.  To all of those mentioned, on behalf of the entire C&W family, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  It was a pleasure working along side you this morning and hopefully we will have the opportunity to do it again!

Please feel free to read and learn more about Miriam's Kitchen and how you can help on their website http://www.miriamskitchen.org/

And finally, here's a group picture (sadly without Cheryl - she was still washing dishes):

Hospitali-tea Article

Below is an article I wrote for our company's quarterly newsletter that gives an introduction to our philanthropy efforts for 2011.  I figure, what better way to introduce you to what this blog is all about than to share this article....
Enjoy!

“I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness, and brings happiness for all.”

The human touch: Cambridge Dictionary defines this term as “a friendly and pleasant way of treating people which makes them feel relaxed”.  This quote hangs over my computer at work as part of my alma mater’s creed and as a daily reminder of who I strive to be.  I believe in this statement.  I also believe that it is our responsibility as hospitality professionals to share our “human touch” with those around us. 

When we discuss “the human touch”, we can, of course, discuss our own individual properties and how our employees make guests feel relaxed and welcome.  We can also discuss how our employees make each other feel relaxed and welcome as part of the team.  However, what we usually don’t discuss is how we can make our communities feel relaxed and welcome; how we can share “the human touch” with those around us every day; those that we don’t necessarily have business transactions with.

At Coakley and Williams, it is part of our mission “to be a role model within our industry and communities”.  How better to do this than by actually getting involved in our communities?  It is our goal as a corporate office in 2011 to be the role models we speak of.  In order to do that, we have lined up a few philanthropic organizations to become a part of…to spread our “human touch”. 

The first organization that we will be working with in 2011 is a not-for-profit organization that serves the homeless population of The District of Columbia, called Miriam’s Kitchen.  Miriam’s provides free, homemade meals, and high-quality support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women each year through their core programs including; Meals, Case Management, Miriam’s Studio, and Miriam’s Café.  Our team at the corporate office will be partnering with Miriam’s to provide and serve breakfast to their guests on March 31^st. 

Another great organization we will be partnering with is Habitat for Humanity.  On September 15^th, we are scheduled for our “team build day” which will consist of assisting in the construction of homes in The Ivy City project within the DC community.  Habitat for Humanity is a highly respected international organization.  They believe that our neighbors deserve safe, comfortable homes they can afford — and there’s no better way to build our communities than to lend a hand.  We are very excited to join the thousands of volunteers throughout the world to help provide assistance in building a home for a family in need.              

One of the last organizations we will be participating with in 2011 is Operation Christmas Child.  Although not as well-known as Habitat for Humanity, Operation Christmas Child is also an international organization.  It is a unique project of Samaritan’s Purse that brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes provided on Christmas morning.  It provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, but hands-on project that has the power to transform children’s lives.  This is an opportunity for our office to get involved in our global community, just as we are getting involved in our local community.

It is our goal as a corporate office to set the example for our team members around the country.  We can all help our communities in some way; whether it is with a big effort, or a small but kind gesture.  Because we believe in “the human touch”, it is our duty and pleasure as a company and a team to share our passion with our community!

-Christin Morgan