Stepping out to serve in a temple community kitchen today. It was a different experience!

Stayed out for about 7 hours today – first time ever after more than a year!

It was great to see many service-minded folks at the temple! Some of them I knew from when I used to volunteer regularly (till the pandemic started). Some were new, there were children who were manning many spots, wearing masks. Felt nice to see us return to a somewhat-normal state.

While it was far from what was normal earlier, there is a new sense of comfort level that has been established in those who have gotten vaccinated! Could feel that in the air!

There definitely was a bit of apprehension, and volunteers were wearing masks strictly 🙂

This time, I stepped into the cafeteria to help and serve!

Community kitchen is always a great place for teamwork!

Served hundreds of families, packed hundreds of items and yet somehow it felt energizing!

Six hours into it, I felt my legs pain and asked the folks around – what do they do when their feet hurt? The whole kitchen started laughing 🙂

Small competitions to keep us active whether the person filling the take-out boxes was faster than the person packing it, or the one who was distributing – kept us laughing and going about it with ease!

Any work – big or small, however difficult, can get done easily with a light banter, couple of laughs, healthy competition 🙂

Satisfied to have triggered a change on how I choose to spend my Sundays!

Now, to get to soak my feet in warm water and rest!