Azia Calderhead

Olivia Gonzalez
J463 Final Story
March 12, 2015
Connecting Lives Through Service: The Dining Room
On W. Eighth Avenue in downtown Eugene, Ore., there sits a small forgettable building.
The deep-scarlet building is tucked away pushed up against the wall of another structure, with its
front entrance facing a nearly empty parking lot. Its the kind of place that someone could pass
every day without noticing its existence, perhaps because they never needed to enter. If one is to
venture inside the doors of the building, however, forgettable would be the last thing to come
to mind.
The moment someone steps inside the building, they find themselves in the restored
restaurant that was once the vegetarian eatery, Govindas. But today, daisies, roses, lupins and
babys-breath flowers are assorted strategically in small bouquet centerpieces on the table of
each booth. Straight ahead is a wall that is covered in a vibrant hand-painted mural from the floor
to the ceiling. Moving left, there are two additional murals, one featuring lyrics of a song painted
in white letters called, Unnamed, and the other showing clusters of people dining and dancing
at a concert.
The room is filled with chatter and clanking dishes and silverware. One couple, with
identical streaks of grey in their hair, sit close to the door as they discuss their daughters new job
in Portland. A few booths away, a young woman probably in her 20s shows off her eyebrow, lip,
and nose piercings along with her half shaven head. She excitedly tells her friends about an
upcoming concert. Across from her, two males around the same age listen attentively, both
wearing sunglasses and orange and black beanies.

The restaurant is now packed, everywhere from its booths, tables and bar seating. About
100 people can sit comfortably at once, but the room is still filled with a chaotic excitement.
Waiters and waitresses wearing long black aprons and name tags move swiftly in their specific
sections fulfilling orders from diners. They bring out piping hot cups of coffee, refreshing fruit
juice or cold milk and explain the days special. Today it is tuna or vegetarian casserole with
sides of homemade apple sauce and steamed vegetables. Dessert servers carry around trays with
bread pudding and danishes, moving with agility to avoid knocking into bussers. Behind the
noise and chaos, solo diners sit at the bar, mostly fixated on the live two-person band.
Next to the bar sits a man who could have been 60 to 70 years old. Three different young
men sit down with him, each seeming to tell their story and without an invitation. After about 45
minutes of unspoken advising, the man reaches into the pocket of his parka, and gathers rolling
papers and tobacco from a sandwich-sized plastic bag. One busser, an Asian American woman
with deep smile lines and a small, but strong stature, does not say anything to the man as he
spreads the items across the table, tightly rolling them into cigarettes. Nor does the tall young
server with shaggy brown hair who gives a familiar wave to each customer who plops down on
the bar stools.
It may be a surprise learn that the meals are 100 percent free, the food here is all donated,
and the staff is made up primarily of volunteers. Welcome to The Dining Room.
This establishment is run by FOOD for Lane County. FFLCs mission is to alleviate
hunger by creating access to food, which is a far more prevalent issue in Oregon than most
people may believe. An estimated 270,000 people in Oregon and Clark County, Washington, ate
meals from emergency food boxes on the average month during the past year. According to
FFLCs website, the organizations primary goals are to ensure a nutritious and varied food

supply, maximize for expansion, measure community impact, prepare for emergency situations
effectively, support financial health, recruit new volunteers, and to enhance self-sufficiency
programs. According to a survey conducted by FFLC every two years, 70 percent of households
in Lane County sometimes worry about where their next meal will come from. This is a
gargantuan disparity compared to the national food insecurity rate, which was 18.2 percent in
2012.
According to its website, FFLC has 24 primary programs, ranging from nutrition classes
for the elderly, to free lunch programs during the summer, to recipe ideas for the limited
ingredients provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Since 1984,
FFLC has grown tremendously in quantity as well as quality, becoming well known nationally
for its programs that eliminate the shame and stigma that dominates the lives of people who are
food insecure.
One person who has committed much of his life to this cause is Steve Gibson, the man
standing about six feet, three inches tall with a white beard speckled with light brown whiskers.
He is a Humboldt County native in his 60s and goes on grueling hikes throughout the week and
enjoys staying active. Gibson plays in a local folk band called Cross Current, performing in bars,
breweries and at events throughout Lane County. He found a way to give back to his community
through his passion for music. Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, he can be found playing
guitar or keyboards at The Dining Room.
After working at Hewlett Packard as a mechanical engineer for 13 years, Gibson neared
retirement. He was happy with family and his passion for music, but he wanted more from life.
He wanted to help people.
Gibson began volunteering at The Dining Room in June of 2011, about two months after

he left HP. Gibson was burnt out working for the corporate world. I needed to do something to
get my soul back, said Gibson, peering through the shade of his dark green bucket hat.
Within the past four years, Gibson has performed tasks ranging from waiting on hungry
diners, to bussing crumb covered tables, scraping leftovers off of plates, and distributing
decadent desserts at The Dining Room. Now, he usually registers diners as they come in, to track
which resources they are utilizing from FFLC and other poverty alleviating services. While
Gibson enjoys all of his jobs at The Dining Room, his most memorable moments have been with
a guitar in his hand.
When Gibson initially started playing music at the restaurant, he was not sure if the
diners enjoyed listening to his melodies and tunes every week, but one man, Parice, who suffers
from alcoholism, validated his efforts. Parice, aged heavily by his years on the streets, often sits
at the bar, facing the band, mesmerized by the music.
I know what song youre going to play next, Parice says to Gibson.
With this signal as his cue, Gibson begins to play Cat Stevens Wild World, which
goes, The world is wild so be careful out there. Each time Parice hears the first few chords of
the song, tears well up in his tired eyes. To Parice, the song encompasses his lifes story, for
someone played it to him right before he began living on the streets. Gibson is not sure exactly
how long ago that was, but refers to him as a longtime street guy. Parice is a regular diner,
coming for food every Tuesday and Thursday but staying for Gibson and the music he plays.
Connecting with diners through music showed Gibson that he wasnt much different from them,
and they could not be categorized through the stereotypical idea of what it means to be
unhoused.
Gibson knows that everyone has their own stories and says, You cant paint these people

with a broad brush. He has integrated this belief into his band and writes most of his songs
lyrics to address social issues, especially the condition of homelessness. One of these is
Unnamed, the folky song painted on one of The Dining Rooms murals:
Im trying to survive
A life come undone
So I love in the shadows
That society shuns
I cant have a future
Wanna forget my past
Ive only got moments
And theyre sliding by fast.
Gibson says he finds inspiration through the strength of the individuals he meets each week. In
spring of 2013, he decided that he wanted to do more for people who are unhoused, when he was
approached by organizers from Opportunity Village Eugene, a transitional housing community.
He now sits on the board of directors, as well as the vetting committee, which reviews
applications for potential villagers.
Dave and Rhonda Spangler, a middle-aged couple who lives in OVE, ended up in Eugene
after losing their jobs and their property in 2009. Dave wears a Seahawks hat and has a scruffy
grey beard, while Rhonda has thick glasses and light brown hair, peppered with grey.
The Spanglers work closely with Gibson and consider him a friend. They appreciate the
mountain of his time he gives to OVE, The Dining Room and multiple other causes. Dave says
it is an honor for his wife and him to work with Steve, He has done a lot to restore my faith in
humanity, which is no easy task.

Before all else, Gibson is a family man. He jokes that he and his wife Debbie, are a
modern day Brady Bunch. Twenty years ago, they brought together three daughters and three
sons. Now, the couple has 10 grandchildren, and Gibson does all that he can to pass down his
legacy of community service and engagement. I want them to know that helping people is a
good thing, said Gibson.
Gibson is just one of the familiar faces behind The Dining Room. Faire Holliday, the
volunteer coordinator and The Dining Room manager, has a compassionate smile, making it
immediately clear that she is trustworthy. Watching her interact with diners and volunteers, it is
obvious everyone in the restaurant has respect for Holliday and her contributions to The Dining
Room. Hollidays favorite part of her work week is the reaction from diners when she does
something as little as remembering their face. On the busiest days, The Dining Room can serve
about 300 people, give or take 15. This tends to be during the frigid winter season and the end of
the month when food stamps often run out.
Last week, I had one gentleman tell me that the highlight of his week is coming to The
Dining Room and being greeted by name. Experiencing gratitude for something that is, to me,
such a small gesture, is a lesson for me and the effects of little things in a persons daily life,
said Holliday.
Holliday affects countless people and inspires a new generation of volunteers. Madi
Richards, a junior at the University of Oregon and an intern at FFLC says Holliday was one of
the first people she met at The Dining Room, and she immediately made her feel welcomed.
Richards explains that Holliday is always in great spirits at work and does a superb job of
making sure everybody feels heard.
Richards follows her passion for direct client contact by majoring in family human

services, and hopes to start a career in social work after she graduates. She works directly under
Dana Bater, the Nutrition Education Program Coordinator at FFLC. Her favorite experiences as
an intern have been on the field, distributing food in mobile food pantries or helping create
samples for food insecure clients. Richards was drawn to the organization by her interest in
nutrition, and after learning about the prominence of hunger in the community.
One day, Richards was responsible for passing out desserts at The Dining Room. She
came to one little boy, who looked around eight-years-old. She offered his family and him sticky
bread pudding. Seeing his hesitant smile, Richards could tell he was not enthusiastic about the
option. Under the watchful eyes of his attentive parents, he politely chose not to verbalize his
feelings. Richards decided to go in the back of the busy kitchen and found a slice of moist
chocolate cake. With the permission from the floor manager, Richards handed it to him with a
smile. The boys face immediately lit up with happiness and surprise, and his parents seemed to
be even more excited than he was. For people who are food insecure, being able to make a
choice about what they are eating is a rare luxury.
Richards says that her experiences at The Dining Room, such as giving cake to the little
boy, help her appreciate the things she does have. Now, she expresses gratitude for her own life
every day and remembers the importance of giving back.
Acknowledging the stress and difficulty that comes along with the job, Richards believes
that maintaining a supportive and hopeful environment is essential to a successful organization.
People always tell me that the field of social work will burn me out but seeing people come to
work everyday looking happy makes me excited. FFLC is upbeat and positive and its inspiring
to know it exists, said Richards.

People like Madi Richards and Steve Gibson, who are at completely different points in
their lives, seem to have an important quality in common: a desire and a need to serve their
community and work towards a change. This is made possible through unique organizations like
The Dining Room because of the innovative ways they address problems.
This is not the be all, end all for food insecurity and poverty, and if someone is to
compliment the staff at these organizations, they will be first to say that the organizations still
have a lot to improve upon. The Dining Room is not about saving the world, but finding tangible
ways to improve the quality of life and fill the bellies of the diners for just one more day. One
volunteer, named Sara, echoed this in her experience at The Dining Room.
I realized what a precious thing having a safe place to share those frustrations, to be
treated with kindness, and to put your life back together was-- and that is something The Dining
Room does, and that volunteers and staff and diners make possible with our united energy, said
Sara.
At the end of the long day at The Dining Room, the last empty cups of coffee are being
picked up and taken to the sink. Volunteers are scraping the remnants of fruity danishes off of the
small dessert plates and the leftover tuna casserole is being p
ut away in the refrigerator. Just as a group of volunteers were about to take off their black aprons
and go home, one diner comes to the back. He has a stout man with a bristly grey mustache and
is wearing a decorated U.S. Marines hat. He takes the hand of his server, looks them in the eye,
and says, Thank you for all that you do.