In April, I was inspired by an example of work that bends the boundaries of our society towards justice. Ariel Pliskin is my close friend and the founder of Stone Soup, a pay-what-you-can cafe in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Stone Soup offers "a new model of hunger relief in which people of all socio-economic backgrounds are treated as valuable members of a diverse and inclusive community." In other words, it's a restaurant where EVERYONE is welcome, no matter what money they do or don't have. Watch this 5-minute video to get a sense of the magic happening at Stone Soup.
On my first visit to Stone Soup, I was intrigued to see 118 diverse people gathered to eat together at a place where the lines that normally divide us were just a bit blurrier than they were in the outside world.
But what really stuck with me was the stories of healing. Before the meal began, I spoke separately to three men (names changed) who volunteer their time at the Stone Soup Cafe.
I met Sean, a middle-aged, working class, brown-skinned man who told me that Saturdays at Stone Soup offers him peace and community among his life of chaos (his word).
But what really stuck with me was the stories of healing. Before the meal began, I spoke separately to three men (names changed) who volunteer their time at the Stone Soup Cafe.
I met Sean, a middle-aged, working class, brown-skinned man who told me that Saturdays at Stone Soup offers him peace and community among his life of chaos (his word).
I met Jason, a young, working class, white-skinned man who told me of his struggles with bullying, lack of family support, addiction, and rehab. Jason said that Stone Soup was an opportunity to be a part of a community where people wanted to do good. In that respect, it was more therapeutic than any rehab program he had been a part of.
Then I met Harold, a middle-class, white-skinned man who had been a chef in a high-volume restaurant kitchen for 10 years before burning out and leaving the industry that he had originally entered because of his love of cooking. Harold told me that here, at Stone Soup, he had been able to once again enter the kitchen he had avoided for so long after burning out.
Three men, three stories of healing particular to that man's experience and scars. All found in the same place, a place of love, community, acceptance, and delicious food.
Could a cafe like Stone Soup be a quiet, slow, and unstoppably powerful forging of a new American community for the 21st century?
This poster (from the Haley House Cafe bathroom)
got me thinking...could there a place for something like the Stone Soup Cafe in Cambridge?
I'm listening...
Then I met Harold, a middle-class, white-skinned man who had been a chef in a high-volume restaurant kitchen for 10 years before burning out and leaving the industry that he had originally entered because of his love of cooking. Harold told me that here, at Stone Soup, he had been able to once again enter the kitchen he had avoided for so long after burning out.
Three men, three stories of healing particular to that man's experience and scars. All found in the same place, a place of love, community, acceptance, and delicious food.
Could a cafe like Stone Soup be a quiet, slow, and unstoppably powerful forging of a new American community for the 21st century?
This poster (from the Haley House Cafe bathroom)
got me thinking...could there a place for something like the Stone Soup Cafe in Cambridge?
I'm listening...
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