Most Gateway to Hope volunteers face you with a smile. Behind the scenes, our own amazing Laura faces down science experiments masquerading as vegetables.
We’d like to take a moment to honor someone who would never seek this or any title, but who has earned it a hundred times over in humble service. In our eyes, Laura reigns as a quiet queen who governs not with commands, but with compassion, presiding over a critical (and occasionally pungent) domain where goodness is carefully sorted.
***Let us be very clear! Hers is a metaphorical monarchy***
Laura has no throne! At best, it may be an old folding chair but rarely does she take time to sit. Her scepter is a trash bag. Her crown is perhaps just an expression behind a protective mask as she confronts a zucchini that has clearly seen far better days (and is now developing its own ecosystem).
Here’s the beautiful, messy truth: Laura doesn’t hand out food to you. She carefully fills boxes with good food and also fills buckets with food you would not appreciate. But, piglets will absolutely love the discarded food in those buckets. In this divine recycling program, nothing is wasted, not even the most ambitious, fuzzy cucumber. Laura make sure God’s abundance abounds right down to the last piglet’s dinner.
Our Queen Laura, “Defender of the Crisp, Disposer of the Dreck” wages a silent, noble, sometime sloppy, and often aromatic war against spoilage. She assures that produce is, crisp… (not study me, I’m fascinating). Please don’t call her Queen… nobody does and she would not care for it; she seeks no attention.
Laura, you are the patron saint of fresh starts — literally! Thank you for turning potential tragedy into triumph. Thank you for turning compost into compassion. Laura, your quiet “good work” ensures that all things, even the questionable veggies, are used for a blessing. You make sure God’s abundance abounds.
If you see Laura in her realm by the sorting tables, know you are in the presence of special kind of Gateway to Hope royalty; the kind that wears an apron, not a cape!
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times… you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Thank you Lord for Laura and all of her very hard work to ensure that all things are used for a blessing.
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Thank you for highlighting Queen Laura, she is the queen of volunteerism. She volunteers endless amounts time to help those less fortunate. She is an amazing woman, who lives the Gospel, not openly and loudly, but quietly and humbly, serving as Jesus has asked us to serve. Laura is truly a blessing from God.
Yes, Ruth! Thank you for your beautiful comment. Laura is amazing and such a blessing to all! -Hal
Such fitting accolades for Queen Laura. She never seeks praise, but seeks to serve. Bless you, Laura! And may God bless you with God’s strength and love. Forever!
Thanks, Hal, for your kind words. I want to thank Dainna, too, who has often helped me when I am about to be buried in garbage. If vegetables come in plastic containers, the containers are cleaned out as fast as I can push errant, soggy leaves of greens into the piggy bags and then the plastic is also recycled by another volunteer, Jeff. Jeff has been know to go dumpster diving if I haven’t saved what he feels could still be useful.