Cleaning up after Friday Mission Lunch

Oh, yes, there are lots of dishes to clean. Winkie and Annie dry dishes. While Susan scrubs a pan.

Serving the guests at the Friday Mission Lunch

We serve approximately 64 people each week. Each week the tables, chairs and place settings are lovingly set up. Our guests are served fresh food by friendly helpers.

Friday Mission Lunch

It takes quite a few people to put together a meal for 66 people. At the Friday Mission Lunch, our motto is "many hands make great work"!

Preparing the meal

John, Bill and Deanna are cutting the bread. We use 18 baguettes each week. So, cutting the bread can take a "little time".


Tom is stirring the pasta--look at those big pans!

Cooking the meal for Friday Mission Lunch

Janet, Annie, Kerry and I are mixing our casserole.

Friday Mission Lunch

A delight in my life this year has been volunteering at the Friday Mission Lunch program which is held at the American Cathedral, 23 Ave. George V. Each week a hot meal is lovingly prepared and served to 66 homeless men and women in Paris. Beside a hot meal these men and women also enjoy salad and cheese, dessert and of course, bread is served throughout the meal.

The Friday Mission Lunch is sponsored by four churches, The American Church, The American Cathedral, St. Joseph's Church and The Vintage Church. Each church is responsible to plan, prepare the meal and clean up one week during the month. The American Church provides the meal on the second Friday of every month. I prepare and cook the meal. I began volunteering at the Cathedral in July and started cooking for the American Church in September. I have enjoyed each one of my experiences. The other volunteers are wonderful people, I have learned some valuable recipe tips and I have met some warm and very grateful people who appreciate a warm meal. We usually begin preparing the meal at 10:30 and clean up is finished by around 2:00. When I am not cooking on the other weeks, I enjoy volunteering along with the others.

On the second Thursday of the month, I can be seen grocery shopping around the 7eme (seventh arrondisement) which is around the Champs Elysees. This has been a special joy in my life. The people we serve are very thankful for the meal.

Take a look at Bartholdi's patriotic work....several pieces have one arm raised.

His sculptures look so realistic!

The Statute of Liberty in France

Yup! You guessed it! The statute of Liberty was sculptured by a Frenchmen. Frederic Bartholdi lived in Colmar. According to tour guides (i.e., Rick Steves.

A nice day for a walk!

The weather was beautiful! The afternoon was free! What better way to spend our time than taking a walk around Paris!

sights along Rond-Point des Champs-Elysees

Take a look at the statue of Charles de Gaulle. The statue is standing in front of the Grand and Petit Palais.

Sights along the Champs-Elysees

The Arc de Triomphe at night....

They sell pizza in Paris!!

The Children's Museusm had a display about Gorillas, take a look at the sign on the front left of the building.

Some sights along the Champs-Elysees

Champs-Elysees

We took a long walk one Sunday afternoon along the Champs-Elysees. We saw many different sights, but we really enjoyed seeing the Arc de Triomphe at night. The area was lit by the traffic and the restaurants in the area.

Champagne Mumm

After the tour, we sat by the bar and enjoyed the delicious champagne!

Champagne Mumm

Look carefully at the last two lines of the sign, can you guess the language?


We thought these different sized bottles were interesting....


Champagne Mumm keeps a sample vintages. Can you see the year on the bottle with the red ribbin?

Champagne Mumm

Champagne Mumm

Look carefully at the last two lines of the sign, can you guess the language?


We thought these different sized bottles were interesting....


Champagne Mumm keeps a sample vintages. Can you see the year on the bottle with the red ribbin?

Walking in Reinns, France

When we arrived in Reinns, we walked from the train station to Champagne Mumm. On the way there we walked past a park and an open air market.

The Fekettes'

Howard is studying with Jean-Daniel Fekette, We were pleased to have Jean-Daniel, his wife Nicole and their son Andrian visit us for dinner.

Living in Paris - November and December, 2006

We had an exciting two months! We kept busy these last two months. We invited several friends to our flat for dinner. We traveled by Train Grande Vitesse http://www.tgv.com/ (High-Speed Train -- some are 200 mph!) to Champagne, France and took a tour of the Mumm (pronounced moom) Champagne cellars.

We also found some time to do some holiday shopping. While we were shopping we enjoyed the window displays on Boulevard Haussman. Even when the stores are closed, families travel to see these beautifully decorated store windows. It was such fun to visit and enjoy the wonderful talent! We enjoyed listening and participating in the holiday music concert at The American Church in Paris http://www.acparis.org/.

Then we spent a wonderful (but busy) holiday season with our family and our friends in the States. We had our traditional Christmas Eve open house, adding several recipes that I learned to cook in France. Later in the week, we said goodbye to our family as Howard's sister Kathy traveled back to California and Paul and Aubrey traveled to Sokcho, South Korea to begin their year teaching English in the AP Academy and Jon traveled back to New York City to continue living and working there. We have returned to Paris to continue our work and, of course, to enjoy the City.