December 2019 Humanity's Team Newsletter

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This will not only develop your ability to be present to one another in a synergistic, non-judgmental way, your learning partners will also provide you with consistent support, and give you the space to practice your new skills and further perfect your genius.

They will also serve as mastermind partners, and help you to build your confidence and clarity as you prepare to take those new skills into the world.

Make a Difference Corner

For nearly eight years, Garth Catterall, the Worldwide IT/WEB Manager at Humanity's Team, has been delivering meals to people through his local Meals on Wheels program in Salem, Oregon. Whether his clients pay a minimal amount or the meals are given freely as part of a program they're involved with, the true gift to them is someone like Garth showing up at their door with food in hand.

Some of his customers rarely, if ever, leave their homes. Some of them go through their days with no human contact. Garth says, "I enjoy driving and helping people who otherwise might not get a nutritious meal or any outside contact for several days. This is one of the many ways I contribute to my local community, which gives me great satisfaction."

So how did Garth become involved with Meals on Wheels and how does his volunteer work for them tie into the overall Oneness mission of Humanity's Team?

Let's begin in 2012 when Garth and his former wife decided to give up their motor-home, traveling lifestyle and settle down in one spot so that they could get involved with a community. That community was Salem, Oregon, and it wasn't long until Garth began his volunteer work with Meals on Wheels.
It was around this same time that Garth attended the Global Oneness Day Summit and soon after became a Humanity's Team volunteer working on the Living In Oneness Summit and also helping with an upgrade of the HTWW website.

Over time his involvement with Humanity's Team increased, and when Global Oneness Day 2014 came around, Garth was there in full force. He attended the 2014 Global Council Meeting in Colorado, and in 2015 Garth became the full-time IT/Web Manager bringing his skills and heart to the work Humanity's Team is doing to awaken the world to oneness in this generation.

"A part of Oneness," Garth says, "is helping others, especially those in need. Delivering a meal to 10 or 12 people every week is a small effort for me that really benefits these people."

Every Thursday, Garth leaves his home at 10 a.m. and drives to the central distribution facility in Salem, where the meals are prepared. He's given his route sheet which shows him a list of his clients and what they'll receive that day.

The choices are a hot meal, including a cold salad, dessert and a roll, or a frozen meal, which his clients might have ordered so that they'll have food to eat on non-delivery days, such as holidays or weekends. Milk is included with all the meals.

Typically, Garth has the same route each week and this has allowed him to get to know his customers. The Meals on Wheels policy is to knock, offer a warm greeting, and give the customers their food. If invited, Garth will walk into the home with the meal and spend up to ten minutes visiting.

"I have one client where I knock and enter and bring her meal to her. She's usually sitting at the table, sometimes she's up and about. She's not very mobile, so I bring a meal in for her. Sometimes I get into little conversations at the door. I had a client early on," Garth says, "who wanted me to come in and sit with her and visit for 10 or even 15 minutes, and I really enjoyed that. And I was really sad when she dropped off my route."

Near the end of this interview, I said to Garth, "What you receive, either from your customers' words or simply from what you can feel from them, is great appreciation for the food, for the physical presence of somebody at their door. The gift is so much more than the food delivery, though that is immensely important. The gift is also for them to see another human being show up that day, a person who obviously is someone who cares enormously, or you wouldn't be doing this kind of activity. I guess what I'm getting at, Garth, is that it must feel pretty good and nourish your soul."

Garth responded by saying "Yes" with great humility and a bright smile.

"I believe in paying it forward," he says, "which is doing for others what we might want for ourselves someday. I think keeping people fed, happy and healthy contributes to world peace. I've always felt that I was provided for in every way that I needed it. Sometimes it wasn't really obvious and the moment felt painful, but I've never been homeless, I've never missed a meal, I've never been without clothes or family or friends. I don't know if that's a direct result, but it might be a direct result, of my wanting to be of service to people at every stage of my life.

We appreciate all of your service, Garth, with the Boy Scouts, with many different churches over the years, with Meals on Wheels, and with Humanity's Team.

By Karen Gordon, Humanity's Team Editor