VACAVILLE TEENS MAKE AND SERVE LUNCH TO HOMELESS NEIGHBORS AT EPIPHANY CHURCH!

Sporting eager smiles and capable hands, Team 1 made quick work of lunch production at Epiphany Church so that when Team 2 arrived, they could be all about serving meals and ministering to their homeless companions.
“They were awesome,” emphasized Emma Green with Epiphany.
Team 1 arrived around 10 a.m. to begin food prep. They chopped produce including bananas, apples, grapes and raisins for a gigantic fruit salad; worked on a community vegetable soup; sliced bowls of bread and more.
Meanwhile, David Quintero, 18, Gracie Nance, 15, and Kennedy Dilworth, 14, worked on making sandwich wraps.
Working quickly, they slathered condiments on tortillas, layered on cold cuts with pimentos and a hearty helping of cheese, stacked on lettuce leaves and rolled, slicing the wraps in half. By shift’s end, they had more than 40 wraps on a plate and were working on more.
“It’s all for a good cause for those in need,” Quintero said.
Keith Lynch, a former Club board member who has long helped serve meals to the homeless on Tuesdays, agreed, saying that seeing the kids lend a hand was a very good thing.
“They’re like superstars,” he said. “They’ve been a delight.”
Calling them hardworkers, Lynch said the teens made prep time go by quickly and praised them for getting everything done fast, and well.
“I love kids and I love helping them,” he said. “I believe that those who give receive the greatest gifts and I love serving, giving back.”
Jacqueline Holbert, 17, shared the sentiment.
She attributed her love of service to her parents.
“I believe if you have a little, give, because a little more will come back to you,” she said. “I’m really thankful for all that I have and one of my passions is giving back to the community. Because if one person’s not happy then the whole world’s not happy.
“If people reached out to each other we would not have this homeless problem or other problems,” Holbert continued.
Stirring a pot of vegetable soup in the kitchen, Sergio Maciel, 15, served up some wisdom along with lunch.
Being part of the Club’s internship program has brought him closer to the other Club kids, he said, which makes for a better experience.
“We are all from different families and households but we have so much in common. We’ve formed our own family,” he said, of the interns. “And all of the things we do, we give back to the community and we do it as a family. It warms my heart.”
Advertisement
Having been stirring for about 30 minutes, he also shared a personal issue.
“I’m really sure I pulled a muscle,” he joked.
Green said she was impressed with the youth and all of their help. Together, they made a vegetable soup medley, deli wraps, green and fruit salads and one other dish.
“Look at what they made,” she said, pulling a banana bread pudding from the oven. “It’s wonderful. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Hugging the Epiphany staff as Team 2 arrived, Team 1 expressed a hope to return for more volunteer work.
Epiphany staff said they’d gladly take them.