Mother's Kitchen

Children, love the poor wholeheartedly. Go to their level. Believe that it is your dharma, your God-given duty to love and serve the poor. No matter how rich we are, as long as we are not prepared to be compassionate towards the poor, we are truly living in utter poverty.

~Amma

True wealth and luxury is peace of mind, something most of us can only hope to achieve, but it is believed the more we give the more we get back. Every third Sunday of every month Mother's Kitchen serves food to the homeless in Downtown Seattle.

Mother's Kitchen came about more than 12 years ago when Amma expressed the desire to serve the poor. Instantly, a group of Amma's devotees set out to fulfill this wish and created Mother's Kitchen.

So on the day of serving, a group of Amma's devotees get together at the Compass Center in downtown Seattle and help cook the meal. It usually consists of delicious pancakes, scrambled eggs, vegetarian sausage patties, hash browns, orange juice, hot chocolate, hot coffee and a bundle of one specific fruit. When we cook the food, we cook as if we were doing it for Amma. With the utmost awareness and cleanliness.

When we are ready to serve the food two teams are assembled, one to serve at the Compass Center and one that serves at a satellite location nestled under the freeway over pass where a lot of homeless people live.

Once the make shift kitchen is setup the serving process begins; the best part of the whole experience. After a warm meal, a couple of jokes in between scrambled eggs and hash browns, their faces tend to emit a brighter glow.

Now what we are doing is not much, this small gesture is hopefully the beginning point of making all of us more selfless. And yet, there was one man, he was about 5'8 and had a bright face with a dazzling smile. As he was chewing on his pancake, he watched us thoughtfully and after a minute looked up. He smiled at us with brilliant teeth and said, "I'm gonna do this someday, I am going to help people just like this!" He wasn't just speaking the words, it was as if he was making a promise. This man who has so little, who has no home, no money, no comfort, who sits and sleeps under the cold hard concrete, was thinking about helping others. That is real selflessness. That is what Amma is constantly telling us every single day.

Overall, it's an unforgettable experience which you will hold with you forever. And after seeing the faces that suffer true hardship, changes that you thought were not possible will be made in your own self. Such is the beauty of places like Mother's Kitchen.

This meal is served outdoors on the 3rd Sunday of the month. We start cooking at 8:00 A.M. and serve at 10:00 A.M. We experience such joy cooking together. Please come try it out.

All are welcome to participate in Mother's Kitchen. Email is sent out regularly announcing Mother's Kitchen activities for the month. If you feel inclined to join us call Sumitra Rosella at 505-603-9155 or email her at smtr_rosella@yahoo.com


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