This Is Your Place

By Diane, Friend of Con-solatio

Arriving for Thanksgiving dinner at Con-solatio in Brooklyn one felt welcomed even before reaching the front door. Father Paul was there, reaching out and greeting us as we arrived. Once inside, the young mission volunteers extended another warm welcome. We smelled food cooking in the kitchen, saw the warm glow of the rooms, and heard animated conversation everywhere. One quickly felt at ease. This was going to be a memorable Thanksgiving!

One could see that a lot of planning went into this: the tables were decorated in fall colors with floral arrangements and candles. Beside each place setting there was a hand-written card with the name of a guest and we were invited to find our name. This felt personal, as if to say “you’re special and this is your place”. The Blessing included thanks to the many people who worked hard to bring this food to the Thanksgiving table mentioning staff and volunteers as well as farm workers and laborers.

The esprit de corps of the Con-solatio community was infectious. We were a diverse group, all ages and backgrounds, and we came together over dinner and then afterwards through lively music and a fun group trivia contest. One accomplished pianist played “Autumn Leaves” and a Boogie Woogie number. It was so good, some of us wanted to dance! The trivia contest challenged us with Thanksgiving related questions: i.e. what state provides the most turkeys for the annual thanksgiving dinner? We now know…. it’s Minnesota! And then more music: we sang in unison to “This Land is our Land” and a professional soloist sang Broadway show tunes. We were delighted to hear her songs and stories.

In addition to these activities there was ample opportunity for one-on-one conversation. The evening was filled with genuine fellowship, and thanks giving.