“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” – Psalm 25:9
Inspired by my wife Tee, I recently began volunteering alongside her at Hugs Café, a popular lunch spot located in the historic district of downtown of McKinney, Texas, our adopted hometown. After so many years of seeing the joy in her face when she comes home after spending a day at Hugs, I just felt I needed to experience it myself. You see, Hugs not only serves great food, it is also popular because of the people employed there – “teammates” they are called – and the special treatment the customers receive from them.
Unlike most restaurants, Hugs Café, a non-profit organization, has a unique mission which is “to enhance the lives of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through training and employment,” a place where “Hope, Understanding, Grace, and Success (HUGS) [is offered] to each individual so they can be recognized for their talents in the community.” And that is what creates that unique HUGS atmosphere that customers experience when they walk through the door, thus its popularity. We volunteers are there simply to coach and work alongside the teammates.
Except for serving on KP duty years ago as a lowly private in army basic training I have no experience in the food service business. And even on KP I seemed to have always drawn the short straw as pots-and-pans man, the lowliest hard-labor job in the mess hall, where for fourteen grueling hours I sweated over scalding soapy water in the dish pit scrubbing pots and cooking utensils, all the while the mess sergeant constantly hollering at me across the kitchen, “pots-and-pans man, hurry up with those pots!”. Ugh!!
So, my first day to volunteer at Hugs I asked someone what I should do. Well, I was told, they need help – you guessed it! – in the dish pit. Little did I know all those years ago that that torturous labor back in boot camp would one day come of good use, same sweaty job over scalding soapy water, but for one exception. Instead of a mess sergeant hollering obscenities, on each side of me were Sam and Molly, amazing Hugs teammates, coaching ME along, offering grace when I messed up, encouragement when I got it right, and having fun in their work. Humbling for sure, but teaching me so much!
As the Psalmist says, “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”