Sarah Leathers, Penny, Marilee, and Amy Julia take a picture together in a commercial kitchen

Healing Meals

As if it wasn’t enough for us to experience abundant love and goodness at Hope Heals Camp last week, we also got to visit a local non-profit called Healing Meals this week.

Our friend Sarah Leathers showed us around Healing Meals, where volunteers make 100+ healthy meals each week for families experiencing some sort of health crisis. The girls got to see mounds of sweet potatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, and kale being cubed and peeled and steamed in their commercial kitchen. We ate fresh mint and stevia and smelled the sage and rosemary. We even stood inside the walk-in fridge.

Sarah told us how every volunteer begins their shift by looking at the names of the people receiving meals that week, so that they can be thinking about them as they prep the food. Most of their volunteers are local teenagers, who find their own sense of purpose and community by serving in this way. They not only think about the people receiving the food but also write them notes of hope and encouragement. 

Yes, the recipients of the meals receive love and care. But the stories I heard yesterday were all about the mutuality of this experience. It’s yet another example of how healing begets healing, how love expands, and how we need one another so we can all be made well.


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