On Maundy Thursday, Zoe, Dorian Mooneyham, Aunt Melanie, Chris Rubalcava, Giancarlo Mossi, Oliver Blumer, and I volunteered to go to the Church of the Transfiguration in Far North Dallas to help serve soup as part of a fund raising event launched by the church’s Gay and Lesbian Fellowship. Of course, with a name like “transfiguration,” what’s not to like?

Zoe came over to pick me up to take us to the church, and although we had some difficulty getting there at first, we arrived promptly. We were greeted by Aunt Melanie and David Reece, the gentleman running the event, and we were briefed on what we were supposed to do. Basically, YFT received 100% of the proceeds for each ticket that was sold to the event. The soups being served were lentil, chicken tortilla, cream of mushroom, vegetable and pasta, and Mediterranean onion and tomato, all of which were made by members of the congregation. Aside from the soups, there were also a wide variety of breads, many of them homemade, such as rustic artisan loaves, as well cross buns and other dinner rolls. Additionally, there were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for youngsters. All of this looked really delicious, and at some point I got to take a break to sample one of the soups.

I decided to serve the chicken tortilla soup, and everything was going pretty smoothly. It seemed like my soup, along with the mushroom soup, were one of the most popular soups there. So I was serving soup to people, all going pretty smoothly, and at one point we run out of the chicken tortilla soup. Luckily enough, there was an extra soup they had brought, the chicken noodle soup, which I started to serve at around the time children arrived from an earlier service. The chicken noodle soup was a huge hit with the children, as well as the adults, and soon we ran out of it also.

My opinion about the whole thing is: it went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would, at least for me. I had some worries that being trans would be kind of awkward around there, even at the Church of the Transfiguration, but most people didn’t seem to be that bothered with it and were for the most part very polite. I had never served soup at a charity event before, and I honestly really liked it. I liked serving people and feeling like I was being useful, so that was really great.

Like I mentioned earlier in this article, I had a chance to try out one of the soups. I chose the cream of mushroom soup, got myself a dinner roll, and sat down with some of the folks there. I didn’t talk much, because unfortunately I’m really shy, but they were a nice bunch, and they loved learning about YFT and being able to show support. As for the soup itself, it tasted just like it looked. Hmmm…great fellowship, great soup, great idea, and overall I would definitely be up for doing more charitable events in the future.

Editor’s note: historically Maundy Thursday is recognized as the day of the “Last Supper” wherein Jesus reminded the disciples to “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Our thanks to the Church of the Transfiguration for reaching out to YFT and affording us an opportunity to participate in this fellowship event.