If you are local to the Dayton, OH area, I have a fun local feature today!
One Bistro is a restaurant/cafe located in downtown Xenia. Robert and Kim Adamson started it as a “biz ministry” – a business and a ministry. They cook and serve food for customers like a normal restaurant, but they also provide free or reduced cost meals to members of the community who either cannot afford to pay for a full meal, or are homeless- or any range in between!
The owner and chef are both paid employees, but all other workers are volunteers. There are tons of community groups who will sign up to volunteer for a monthly slot – a sports team, a church youth group, a boy/Girl Scout troop, etc. There are also many local churches who volunteer community members to serve. There are also table sponsors and hosts who donate money to continue the model of “paying it forward”.
There is a lot more information on their website if you would like to check that out!
My parents’ church is one of the church’s that volunteers monthly, and my parents have started to serve at One Bistro monthly. A few months ago Tera started to beg me to let her go with them to serve. We all agreed we would try it out, but warned her that it would be a long day (7:30am-12:30) and that she would be very busy! She worked alongside my parents, but from what I’ve heard, she was a fantastic server and did a great job taking orders, putting the orders in to the chef, and delivering meals to the tables.
At the end of Tera’s shift, we decided to pop in for some lunch- and it was such a fun experience! The restaurant is small- only three booths, three small tables and a community table in the middle.
Even though Tera had already finished her shift, she jumped at the opportunity to take our orders and turn them in to the chef. She even had to yell “ORDER UP” when she puts the orders in!
While we waited for our food, we enjoyed meeting some of the other volunteers and chatting with my parents. Tera delivered our food and it was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend. I got the “Bistro Bowl”, which was biscuits and gravy with two eggs on top and some fried potatoes on the side.
We paid for our meal and then headed home full and happy! That was a great experience and I highly recommend eating there and /or volunteering there or hosting a table.
