Early this evening a young gentleman I don't recall seeing before pops in the door and rather sheepishly asks if he might have a Grateful  Bowl, even though he has no money. 

I tell him, "Absolutely, that's what it's all about" (or something to that effect).  So I ring him up for a $5 Bowl and pull a 5 out of my pocket and put it in the drawer.  When I bring him his bowl, he is profusely grateful and strikes an interesting balance between ravaging and savoring his meal. 

While he's still eating, an older gentleman enters.  He also does not look familiar, and had just stepped in the door when he asked me if we did donations for schools, or something along those lines. I understood him to be asking for a donation, but I would soon realize the opposite.  Since I thought him to be asking FOR a donation, I went on to explain to him about our 2-plus year commitment to the community called the Grateful Bowl.  He seemed interested, and asked a few questions about how payment worked and a few other details. 

At this point I still was under the impression he was hoping to GET something when he said, "So, how about I buy 5 bowls at $7 each?"  Realizing I'd had him all wrong, I fumbled out a "Sure!  Absolutely!  We can do that!"  So he hands me his credit card, I ring up 5 $7 Grateful Bowl donations, charge his card for $35 and give him back his card. 

I found this to be too good an opportunity to pass up to share about his generosity, so I called out to the the young guy on the couch and let him know what had just happened, and that this is how the Grateful Bowl program works; that because of the generosity of a few, we are able to feed many.  So the young guy proceeds to profusely thank the generous gent, who now has also gotten a demonstration of how the program works.  I can't say for sure what he was feeling, but it sure seemed that he was really getting how big his gift had just become.  To top it all off, he hands me back his CC slip and it has a $5 tip on it!  What a way to start my shift. 

So I ask you, "Where else ya gonna get love like this?"