Pancakes, Breakfast Sausage, Breakfast Potatoes Meal Kit

The past Saturday, the Wood Street Meal Project had its fourth meal distribution event. This week, I prepared pancakes, breakfast sausage, and breakfast potatoes.

The Day of the Distribution

For this meal event, it required a lot more time than the last one we did. Thus, I started my work early in the morning at 8 AM in order to get to downtown by 11:30 AM like usual. To begin my busy morning, I first prepared my pancake batter, making enough for 60 full sized ones. Then, I got my potatoes, cubed them up, and seasoned them with salt to bring out the moisture. With all the prep ready, I was ready to start cooking. In batches, I began the long process of making all my pancakes. To prevent them from getting cold though, I kept them in food trays and placed them in a warm oven to keep them out of the dangerous temperature zone. At the same time, I also began working on my breakfast potatoes by baking them off in batches in the upper oven. Finally, with the pancakes and potatoes done, I began cooking the breakfast sausages. On multiple pans, I seared all sides of the sausages and finished cooking them through. The last step of my morning was packing the food containers. Inside of each one, I placed two pancakes, two sausages, a large scoop of potatoes, as well as a container of maple syrup. With the cooking work done, I headed to downtown to distribute the meals.

When I arrived in downtown at 11:30 AM, I was ready and prepared to start handing out meals. Like the past few weeks, I arrived on Wood Street and I approached people and asked if they needed something to eat. Although I prepared more meals than before, I was out of meals in 20 minute! By the time I was done, I was happy with myself, as my work led to a real impact in my community. In addition, I saw a few familiar faces and caught up with some folks.

What I Learned

• Doing community service leads to real life connections. Although it had been two weeks since the last time I distributed meals, there were a few people that recognized me and we talked for a little while. I got to catch up with them, learn more about them, and continue fostering my relationship with them!