Day 02/05: The Ovens are fired up at The Gate

There are already guests in the centre when we arrive on the first day for the 3pm welcome briefing to new afternoon shift volunteers , a lunch meal has already been cooked and served and the morning team are cleaning the kitchen in anticipate of handover to us.

The welcome briefing updates us with standing instructions, advice and orientation taking 50 minutes as there is so much to cover, new volunteers get a chance to understand what is going the happen and regulars spot each other across the crowded room smiling, waving or nodding to familiar faces. Many volunteers come back time and time again from across the country fitting in a few days each Christmas to help out at The Gate.

When we arrive in the kitchen our chef, Claire,  assigns us our initial duties preparing the hot meal, dessert, or one of a myriad of other tasks in  busy industrial kitchen. Digger arrives, a regular, who runs the Narcotics Anonymous group and is also an expert knife sharpener taking and making our kitchen knives as sharp as razors using his array of whetstones, strops and all sorts of black magic.

We start off the week with a bland dish as our guests are not used to spicy or exotic menus living on the streets or in hostels. We go on to diversify the menu throughout the week and portions change as they get used to three hot meals a day.

It was five hours before I took my first break to eat dinner with out guests and have a chat, I say opposite J, a regular, and watched him literally scrap his place clean with a knife eating every last morsel and speck of food. He said it was his second serving, he must have been starving and I was unexpectedly startled by this simple act.

Today I am getting back into the swing of things, learning how to use the new equipment, finding where all the utensils, pots, trays and pans are kept, and learning to work in a kitchen team moving around gas burners, hot ovens or out in the cold store fetching or storing food for use later.

The shift is an 11pm finish, a debrief then it's home late, soiled apron and clothes into the washing machine and sleep needed as I remember to pace myself better tomorrow if I'm not to be exhausted.

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NB: These diary entries are written as a thank-you to everyone who has donated to Crisis, or would still like to. I write this diary to let you know how we spend your money and to encourage you to keep supporting Crisis as it depends upon your donations to fund the huge Christmas operation and year round services -  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/llct2018

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