“This is a shared table. I invite you to connect with each of our guests tonight, and be open to the moments of grace, curiosity and beauty that are present in each meal here at St. Vincent Hall of Catholic Charities Chicago.”
With this message to volunteers, Keara Ette, a Catholic Charities staff member, opened the volunteer orientation ahead of the community meal served to 140 people on Tuesday evening, January 28, 2025.
Sixteen volunteers from across the city served the delicious, hot, nutritious meal to the program’s clients, in a restaurant style setting, serving community members at their seats, refilling coffee cups throughout the meal, and cleaning up afterward.
Interfaith America staff were serving alongside staff from Catholic Charities Diocese of Chicago, Habitat for Humanity Chicago and YMCA of Metro Chicago.
The event was part of the Team Up Project – a national collaboration to bring people together in communities to work across differences for the common good.
Other volunteers serving food that evening were regulars, their commitment ranging from four months to 25 years.
Jon, a volunteer who was busy (both serving the food and sweeping the floor) said that he started serving six months prior after passing people in line, next to the building, for several weeks. Every time he walked by, he noticed an evident need and got curious about how he could help. “It is the best thing I’ve done for myself this year,” he reflected, with apron and latex gloves still on.
The daily need of a meal, especially centered around community, and its commensurate response in the Catholic Charities community was in stark contrast to the first week of the Trump/Vance presidential administration.
In the same week, we saw a record number of executive orders and actions, as well as confirmation hearings and firings, with profound short and long-term impacts on the nation and the world, including charities, like the ones serving Tuesday evening.
On the very evening that social service organizations across the nation were quickly planning for a freeze on government grants (which received a court ordered reprieve just as the order was going to take effect and has since continued to cause confusion), leaders in communities across the nation continued to serve and meet the needs before them.
Shared action is amongst the best ways to build relationships anchored in shared values.
The civic genius of the United States is that bonded communities (think faith groups, ethno-cultural groups, identity and affinity groups) cultivate strength and belonging in their group connection and build institutions that serve all.
The YMCA, Habitat for Humanity and Catholic Charities were all founded by faith communities that saw a need and built a response. Historically and across the nation these bonded groups have helped build the infrastructure that make it possible for a city like Chicago, or a nation like the United States to be a healthy democracy amidst our remarkable diversity.
Social science also tells us that shared action – problem solving around community needs – is amongst the best ways to build relationships anchored in shared values that have the resilience to sail the inevitable choppy water of deep difference.
After serving together, the Chicago Team Up members gathered for a meal of their own to envision what they could do together to address real and pressing needs in Chicago.
What divides are standing in the way of each organization achieving its mission? Where does a missing voice or community reduce the effectiveness of a program? In five minutes, the group came up with a dozen potential powerful partnerships to engage across deep differences in Chicago to achieve the common good.
These partnerships will unfold in this space and beyond, with the hope of impacting many neighborhoods.
Even as the unprecedented disruption of major White House orders will have real consequences on the lives of everyday Americans across the country – so too, do individuals and organizations, inspired by their faith and convictions of conscience, continue to roll up their sleeves, greet one another with hospitality, and meet the need of their very real neighbors, every day.
