September 2022 Newsletter
- Thoughts from a board member
- Notes from the Kitchen
- Support Shobi’s Table
- Fall Schedule
- Volunteer Opportunities
The Banquet Table
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
– Luke 14:13-14
My name is Trip Sullivan and I’ve been serving on the Shobi’s Table board of directors for several years now and helping in various capacities. Recently I have been volunteering on Fridays as a “truck host” when lunch is served at the Midway/Allianz Stadium location. The first few weeks I walked up and down Snelling Avenue with flyers and started waving at anyone walking by to join us for lunch.
What had most drawn me to Shobi’s Table in the first place was this idea of offering a common table where anyone and everyone could gather to share a meal, regardless of one’s station and standing in society.
We humans have a tendency to put up walls and cluster in groups with the only the people we most want to closely associate with. Jesus reminds us again and again in scripture to tear down those walls and stop pretending we are so different from our fellow men and women.
Friday lunches at the Shobi’s truck have picked up and we’ve seen more and more regulars coming to eat, and more people opting to stick around and eat around the table together. We are getting to know people from the community better and learning a lot about ourselves too. It makes my heart sing to see this vision becoming a reality. I invite anyone who is near the area from 12-1 pm on Fridays to join us and become part of this community!
A huge shout out to Tina and Renee who have figured out a way to fit foldout tables, chairs, and a pop up canopy all inside the truck (Tina calls it the jigsaw puzzle) along with all the food and themselves. I really appreciate this extra effort that they have put in to help foster a sense of community where one would not exist otherwise, amidst the hot blacktop of the Allianz parking lot and Snelling Avenue.
The gospel excerpt from Luke that I included above might come across as very extreme and a little bit pretentious (You may have heard the larger passage this past Sunday in church) but it is a good reminder that we must stay humble and look for any walls to tear down that divide us as common people.
Not that the Jesus or the Apostle Luke need my editing advice, but if they asked me, I would simplify down the message to something much shorter and ready for the social media age: Invite everyone you don’t know yet to dine with you, and you will be blessed by getting to know them.
Peace be with you. Have a great start to your fall, and see you at the truck.
– Trip Sullivan
Notes From The Kitchen
We have been receiving an abundance of food donations this summer, which we are so grateful to receive! It does mean that we have to get creative when it comes to storing these items, as most need to be refrigerated, which is limited. This means that 100 lbs of radishes are being roasted to be added to a side dish, or tested to see if they will still be good if we freeze them. 150lbs of sweet potatoes, means lots of roasted sweet potatoes and maybe even dessert! It’s been a really fun experiment every week to figure out how to utilize and store foods when we get a lot of it!
Support Shobi’s Table:
Love the Big Blue Truck? Love the mission of Shobi’s Table? Then you’ll love the Shobi’s Table Big Blue Truck T-shirt and stickers! Wear around town, on a water bottle, and help spread the good news of from-scratch, delicious and nutritious meals for everyone.
Everything at Shobi’s Table is set up around the pay-as-you-can model. If you’d like to purchase a t-shirt or stickers for someone who may not be able to pay for one, you can add our “For a Neighbor” items to your cart, and we’ll give it to someone who wants it but doesn’t have the cash right now.
Volunteer Opportunities
We have something for everyone! Come help in the kitchen washing produce, doing some prep work, making some baked goods, even dishes, all while enjoying music and conversation with each other. None of those sound appealing? Come out with us when we serve food from the truck! You can help us in the truck by taking down orders or out front serving coffee and water and getting a chance to connect with the communities we serve in. We finish these days off by sharing a meal with one another. Find out more by clicking on the link below.