We had our Mansion New Year’s Pizza Celebration, somebody even sent banners from the Army of Good for the windows. Food is important at the Mansion and other assisted care facilities where I have worked. Meals are the most structured part of the resident’s lives, a special lunch or dinner is a big deal.

Changes in routine are special, they give everyone a lift.

I ordered 30 pizzas from the Round House Cafe to serve 32 residents and five or six staffers. Five or six of the residents couldn’t eat pizza, so the kitchen staff prepared sandwiches and soup for them. The pizzas were a great heat, a way of marking the new year. Scott Carrino drove them over from the Round House Bakery just before noon.

After the lunch, we had a poetry workshop and worked together on poems about love and about Red. I’ll share them tomorrow. I’m pushing the idea of occasional special lunches – we think the next one might be Valentine’s Day or the Chinese New Year. The Round House Cafe made the pizzas today, they are thinking about a Valentine’s Day lunch.

Breaks in the routine are important, and the residents loved the range of pizza choices – plain, pepperoni, vegetable, eggplant, and about five other kinds of pizza. Each had two pieces to start, and then asked for more if they wanted more, and there was plenty to go around – it was a big hit.

Everybody had seconds or thirds. After the residents were fed, the staff came in for their own pizza celebration. Maria came along and we helped serve and clean up.

Thanks so much for supporting this, and sending banners and supporting the pizza fund. We are making a real difference in the lives of these vulnerable people.