Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Visits Gratitude for the Official Opening of the Community Kitchen
On Tuesday 25th October 2022, Gratitude was proud to host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the grand opening of our community kitchen. We were honored to welcome a special guest; the Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire; Mr Robert Voss CBE CStJ together with our fantastic volunteers and other dignitaries from the community.
It was truly a great honour to host Mr Voss, and an opportunity to recognize the important work carried out by the Lieutenancy and the impact this work has on the life of residents in Hertfordshire.
Lord-Lieutenants were first appointed by King Henry VIII in the 1500s to assume the military duties of the Sheriff. Today, the monarch appoints Lord Lieutenants, on the advice of the Prime Minister, to be representative in their county.
Her late Majesty The Queen appointed Mr Voss as the Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire in July 2017.
The Lord-Lieutenant upholds the dignity of the Crown and serves the community in the name of the monarch.
The Lord-Lieutenant gives his time voluntarily to the role and helps promote and encourage participation in voluntary and charitable organisations amongst other responsibilities.
During the visit, Sheila and John welcomed everyone and gave them a tour of the hub. They were interested to learn about the fantastic facilities including the Groceries Giveaway area, the Gratitude Kids Corner, the amazing designs created by the Gratitude Creative Club and of course our new Community Kitchen!
The space was re-developed and transformed into an amazing food preparation area, funded through donations from businesses and the community and built from scratch through an army of co-ordinated volunteers with multiple skills and generosity of their time.
After the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Community Kitchen, and learning about the amazing talents of our volunteers, we learned about future plans for the space and how it will be an ongoing legacy for years to come serving the community freshly made hot meals.
We enjoyed speeches by our lead trustee John Carlisle, Rabbi Berger, Cllr Alan Plancy and the Lord-Leitennant.
Cllr Rabbi Alan Plancy was overwhelmed by the amazing project and related it to thinking about the Genesis. When G-d created the world – the gifts made each day individually were good, but by the end of the week, when everything was completed – the result was perfection.
This analogy touches the heart of what makes Gratitude unique. What we each do individually is good, but when we all work together towards the same goal, we make wondrous miracles and the result is perfection.
Radha Mohan from the Hare Krishna temple commented that they really love our plans for the kitchen and thanks us for our continued support of the Bhaktivedanta Manor.
John Carlisle, Gratitude’s lead trustee said on reflection that he feels part of something that brings him fulfillment by making progress, making a contribution and making friends. These are the three pillars of Gratitude.
He added, from imperfection, perfection arises if we follow the right process with the right mindset.
The afternoon was rounded off by a ceremonial cutting of some delicious celebratory cake and light refreshments.
Thank you to our fantastic hard working volunteers who helped make the afternoon a success, especially Valéria who presented the Lord-Lieutenant with an amazing hamper and took fantastic photographs.
We look forward to celebrating many more milestones of how Gratitude is there for the community by the community.
Written by Carolyne Klein & Pictures by Valeria Fazekas
