Our dear friend Alexa (sister of the village chief, Jessica) shared with us " what you do for our elders is amazing! We just love having you two in Circle each summer, but if you really want to help my people, stay in Fairbanks next summer and base your summer around volunteering at the Stone Soup Cafe, it's the soup kitchen, to love up on our hurting people the way you love up on us. Before we returned to Indiana, we spent time going to the soup kitchen. It was like God led us around to make it clear, this is where we need to be in the summer of 2023.
So, the last week of April brings Bill to the newly rented cottage on the west side of Fairbanks, where we will live for the next four months. Volunteering at the Stone Soup Cafe is a win win for so many people. Crossing paths with so many natives we've not seen in years is wonderful and natives see that we know their relatives gives them a sense of ease so they begin a friendship with us. Volunteers see that we have a relationship with so many people from the villages, that prompts them to begin discussions with the same people they've avoided. The staff sees so many of the homeless and hurting are friends of ours, so they're more relaxed at us being there.
Stone Soup Cafe has a very large garden a couple blocks from the soup kitchen. It not only offers us an opportunity to continue gardening as we have for 16 years. It also allows us to apply for yet another grant from Church of the Brethren " Global Food Initiative". So, a few days after we arrive Stone Soup Cafe receives a 9000.00 check in the mail. 7,000.00 is for garden upgrades and 2,000.00 for kitchen upgrades. In the first weeks the staff at Stone Soup Cafe is overjoyed that Penny and I were led to spend our summer in Fairbanks.
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