On Sunday, 75 volunteers from BuzzFeed and The Church of St. Paul the Apostle teamed up to serve hot meals from Boston Market with a heaping side of hospitality to over 300 of our homeless and hungry neighbors right here in Manhattan.
11:00am, volunteers prepared the dining room for 300+ guests!
Quick! Every table needs chairs, a tablecloth, dinnerware, and cups. Don't forget the goldfish crackers and peanuts. Hurry, the guests are arriving in 90 minutes!
11:45am, volunteers circled up for a welcome speech from Fr. Gil Martinez (pastor of St. Paul's)
Fr. Gil took BuzzFeed's "Which One Of Jesus’ Disciples Are You?" quiz and got "St. James the Less." Also, he would be a Storm Trooper in Star Wars.
The Rockettes and Stephen Colbert performed a dance routine...
Just kidding, but this is the same room where Colbert filmed his epic "Get Lucky" video last summer!
12:15pm, BuzzFeed volunteers paused for a quick group photo...
12:18pm, more group photos...
Drink servers and food runners.
Greeters and seaters, plus Jason and Katy who organized the event and helped keep it running smoothly!
12:20pm, the welcome table is ready for action!
12:25pm, the food prep team is ready to dish out the good stuff
Just five minutes until guests arrive!
12:30pm, guests arrive and lunch is served!
Guests enjoyed a hearty meal from Boston Market with meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and cornbread. The food prep team stayed busy dishing up over 600 meals (including second helpings) until 2pm!
12:30-2:00pm, hundreds and hundreds of meals were served. Many volunteers took time to sit, chat, and swap stories with guests...
View this video on YouTube
(Out of respect for privacy we refrain from posting pictures with guests, but this epic tale from Brave is pretty much the same ;-)
2:00pm, Chocolate brownies for dessert!
2:30pm, With every guest well fed and cared for, it was time for some quick cleaning up...
...and taking out the garbage.
3:00pm, Finally, our hard working (and hungry) volunteers regrouped at McGee's to feed themselves and celebrate a great day!
McGee's (a.k.a. the HIMYM bar)
Great job everyone!
