When 'Serving' Means So Much More

When Deerfield resident Michael Resnick and his family agreed to serve Christmas Eve meals to 50 women at Sarah’s Circle, they thought it was a simple good-natured gesture the family could take part in during the holidays. Little did they know, however, they would eventually be at the helm of a greater community effort.

During a meeting of the Brandeis University (Chicago chapter) alumni board of directors, Resnick, a member was asked by a woman also on the board if he knew if anyone would be able to serve Christmas Eve dinner to 50 women at the Chicago women’s shelter. The woman, who often volunteers and serves food at the shelter, was going to be out with family that night.

“I sent a mass text just to my wife and daughters to see if they would want to do it - and they all responded very quickly that they would,” said Resnick.

But once he confirmed with his cohort on the Boston-area University alumni board and got in touch with the head of the shelter, he found out that “serving” that night not only meant bringing the food to the women, but planning the menu, purchasing the items and cooking.

“They gave me a list of some menus I might want to consider and told me ‘here’s a kitchen where you can come cook and serve.’,” Resnick recalls. “I thought to myself ‘that’s a lot more than just serving meals.’ My wife wanted to know what I got us all in to.”

And what was originally just Resnick, his wife Ellen and three daughters (Jessica, Danielle and Isabel) turned in to a list of 10 volunteers and a sort of businesses chipping in to make a robust dinner a possibility.

With Ellen making calls for help, COSTCO, Sunset and Jewel all donated gift cards so the Resnick’s could shop for groceries for the night. The donation that struck Resnick the most, however, was from Teddy from Teddy Fabz in Deerfield, who, when told of the project, immediately offered Italian beef sandwiches for all 50 women at the shelter.

“My wife just called him on a whim - I think she was just ordering dinner that night,” Resnick said. “But when we heard what he was going to do, we were blown away. I thought that was just the nicest thing in the world.”

With a big job still ahead of them in preparing and serving the meal, Resnick says his group looks forward to “serving the dinners” and then going out for a family meal afterwards.

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