Symbiotic Stories – When the Wrong Door Opens
Lots of love for Haywood Street Congregation
It's hard to write a post about Buchi's charitable giving in the community without sounding like it's self-serving or blatant self-promotion, so instead I'll write a post about how I entered through the wrong doors yesterday and got a round of applause from a group of volunteers.
The last time Keith and I made a delivery to the Haywood Street Congregation, we pulled the van around to the back of the building and unloaded Buchi kegs through a set of doors that led straight to the cooler. I remember that day well because I parked the Buchi van perfectly behind another delivery truck and was silently impressed with my newfound delivery van parking skills. The only problem with my parking spot was the other delivery truck was still unloading product when we finished so the only exit to Haywood St. was blocked. Ugh! Keith had to get out of the van and guide me as I slowly reversed all the way around the building, through the upper parking lot and back out to the street. Yesssss, fist bump for teamwork!
Yesterday I had four more kegs to donate to the Congregation and when I arrived I noticed another delivery truck already parked behind the building. This time I thought ahead and parked the Buchi van in the upper parking lot to avoid being blocked in again. A member of the congregation came out to greet me and said I could pull the van around the building and pull in behind the other delivery truck to make it easy on myself if I wanted. I politely declined his offer. Instead I loaded up the hand-jack and wheeled the kegs down the hill and through the doors to the cooler. Or so I thought.
I knew I entered the wrong doors right away because there were a group of 20 or so volunteers seated at a large table folding up napkins and cutlery and when they saw me walk in carrying kegs they hooted and hollered and started clapping at my arrival.
One volunteer shouted, "You'all are killing it, thank-you so much!"
I shouted back, "No, YOU'ALL are killing it and doing great work, thank YOU so much!"
Another volunteer stood up to shake my hand and said they couldn't do what they do without companies like Buchi. He even commented about how he feels great serving Buchi to those experiencing homelessness and others in need who come through their doors because the kombucha promotes gut health and wellness to so many.
Wow, what a moment.
As I drove away to my next destination, I had such a strong sense of gratitude and community. Their comments and the ovation for making our monthly donation brought our mission of making all this gut goodness better for the earth, while using our resources as a force for good really struck me to the core. I wish everyone at Buchi could have heard the clapping and felt the same way I did yesterday.
And then I realized something else: Instead of telling myself I entered through the wrong doors, my heart and mind opened up to tell me the gratitude and community I was feeling was because those were actually the right doors to enter through on that day.
To learn more about the Haywood Street Congregation Downtown Welcome Table, please check out their website and Youtube video.
