Our next regularly scheduled evening to work the Highland Blessing Dinner is Thursday (2 August 2012) at The Highland Center (520 Olive Street, Shreveport LA).
Since the meal is served at 6:00 PM, volunteers please be there no later than 5:15 PM. Please note that extra volunteers are welcome on any Thursday evening.
Although there is no means test required and we feed the first 77 people who come to the door, our hope is to help those families and individuals who “fall though the cracks” of social services, and to build community with the people who come to the dinners, and with our partner congregations.
A sign-up sheet will soon be back up in the foyer. Sign up for the job you want, then pick up a handout that describes all the jobs. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with one or two other jobs in addition to your first choice, in case the needs of the evening change.
Good servers and table hosts are most in demand and your flexibility is appreciated.
- Volunteer Coordinators: Responsible for recruiting/reminding volunteers for each date, coordinating with partner church coordinator and with Food Bank and Highland Center staff to pick up food early in the week and deliver to Highland Center. Ideally, we will have 3 or 4 people to share and/or rotate this job for each dinner. Right now, Susan Bettinger and Susan Caldwell are serving as co-coordinators.
- Volunteer Check-In: Responsible for giving volunteers their name tags and assigning hosts and servers to their tables. Patrick Early does this job for us, along with that of table host.
- Table Hosts: (At least 6 from our church – one per table of seven people. Min. age 16 – should have good communication and listening skills.) Table hosts will sit and eat the meal with guests, lead the blessing at their individual tables, take prayer requests (slips of paper will be available for guests to write these), and model and facilitate balanced sharing of both food and conversation. Turn in prayer requests to the coordinators or to the Worship Leader.
- Table Servers: (Min. age 13, although responsible elementary age children can be great helpers!) 11-16 per 11 tables, 6 – 8 from our congregation. Needed before meals for setting tables (tables and chairs will already be in place thanks to HC staff) as well as throughout the meal. Will deliver serving bowls to tables (meals will be family-style), and stay “attentive and friendly without hovering” to offer drink refills, etc. May assist in greeting guests, and should be friendly, willing and able to move quickly, both serving and clearing dishes afterward.
- Greeters: (1 or 2 from our congregation. Min. age 21, although again, responsible elementary-age children can be very helpful here as well) Should be a dynamic person with a welcoming spirit AND comfort with rules and their enforcement. Greet guests, pass out tickets, be sure outside items stay outside, etc. (We will also have help with any difficulties from Highland Center Security, although so far we have had no problems of this nature).
- Worship Leader: Someone to lead a brief 10-minute devotional after the meal. Sometimes, ministers will do this, but a number of them have been done by lay people or by non-clergy church staff. These are scheduled a few week in advance.
- Activities Coordinator: (3-4 for the evening, 1 or 2 from our congregation, minimum age 14) Someone to come equipped with books, art supplies, games etc. to occupy young children under 7 during the brief devotional time after the meal.
- Musicians: (no set age or number) Play music during the meal.
- Off-Site Volunteers: Those not available on Thursday evening can still help the volunteer coordinator with food pick-up and delivery. Sarah Boswell and Susan Bettinger are currently doing this.