Youth + community outreach = awesomeness. I used to run a youth group for teens and it was probably the most energizing period of my life. (Of course, exhausting in equal measures, but still.) Let us know how it goes!

More about Church Under The Bridge

Good on you, Doohickie. One of the most rewarding days of my life was a couple of Christmases ago in Ohio when I helped cook dinner for a bunch of homeless people at a local church, the day after Christmas.

Right on, Doohickie. I actually attended service at Church Under the Bridge sporadically my freshman year at Baylor. It was a quick walk from the dorm, and if I remember right, service didn't really start until like 10:30 or something, so you could still sleep in a bit.

It was definitely a welcome change from the suburban Country-Club style church I was used to growing up. An odd mix of homeless folks, Baylor kids, random Waconians, and gawkers. While it was somewhat odd to be distracted by schizophrenics and semi-trucks, it was far and away my favorite church I ever attended.

I guess you could say I've lost the faith since then, and that wouldn't be inaccurate, but every time I feel like I'm getting beat up by organized religion or allow the disingenuous "faith"-mongers to get to me, I think about CUtB. There was just something so very genuine about it.

I'm glad to see it's still around, some ten or so years later.

That's really awesome Doohickie. May I ask - chicken sauce? Is that just red sauce with chicken instead of ground beef or sausage, or is it totally different?

ufez.... meetup tomorrow, under the bridge. Be there!

rainbaby: I'm not sure what the intent was, but I made spaghetti with sauce, and topped it with chicken chunks sauteed in garlic, olive oil and Italian spices. I'm not quite sure why they picked "spaghetti and chicken" as one of the meal choices.

Doohickie, that's fantastic!

You might enjoy Laurie Colwin's essay Feeding the Multitudes. She writes about experiences cooking on a large scale for various reasons, including her volunteer experience at Manhattan's Olivieri Shelter for Homeless Women.

I particularly like this:

Until you get the notion to volunteer, you do not know who your population is. Some people read to the blind or take deaf children to baseball games. Some people make home visits to the elderly or work with children or runaways. I did not know until I started that my population would be chronically homeless, mentally ill women.

It sounds like you found your population.

My biggest cause Elsa is Habitat for Humanity, but come to think of it, I suppose both of these causes serve the homeless, so.... maybe you're right.

I've been very fortunate (blessed, you might say) in that I've never been homeless. I've been laid off several times, though, and probably weeks or months away from homelessness but managed to get a job. So maybe it's just real enough for me.

Awesome story! Hope it goes beautifully tomorrow. I enjoyed hearing about this and learning about Elsa's book.

service didn't really start until like 10:30 or something, so you could still sleep in a bit.

If more churches would hold Sunday services starting at, like, 11, church attendance would rise. I'm sure of it.

When's the last time you were in church, Miko? In my experience, 11 am or noon services is the standard.

Not in New England, DH. Not in New England.

Catholic masses are usually at 7 and 10. Most other services are at 10 or 10:30. The Unitarians here have a 9 and 11, so the 11 is pretty comfortable. My congregation gets rolling at 10:30 after 10:00 coffee time.

7am Catholic Mass in NZ is why I started going on the Saturday night (very common over there, don't know how common it is here because I don't go anymore).

Yeah, some of them do have Saturday masses. I'm not Catholic, though. I'm just speaking in a very general way. The megachurches are really pretty smart in the way they have weeknight services and services at all times throughout the day. I honestly think more people would attend services if there were more time choices, but there seem to be a lot of problems with that, most of them financial in these old hard-to-heat New England churches with dwindling congregations.