Bethel Potluck In The Park

Hello everyone! Mason here! (please share your experience and pictures/videos of the potluck in the comments)

Today we had our potluck in the park at Bethel Community park in Eugene. We were blessed to have such perfect conditions today. The sun was high and hot, and there was a light breeze throughout the day to keep us all cool. We set up under the purple canopy of the park which had three picnic tables and a pleasant 360 view of the park and its attractions.

 I personally love this park, it literally has so many avenues for fun and excitement. The park features a large big kids playground with wood chips and swings and a huge spider web rope structure. It also has a medium sized young kids playground with sand and water features. The basketball court and skatepark were just a stone's throw away too! The bathrooms were right behind us too which was great for the parents who brought their young ones. To top it all off the area is surrounded by small hills and huge fields that are just begging people to take off their shoes and run through the plush grass, or play a game of catch with a football. Like I said, we were super blessed to have such an amazing park and such an amazing day with amazing people.

We kicked things off at 12 and people started trickling in. Coming with smiles on their faces and a tasty dish in their hands. What an awesome sight to see! It really is the simple things like that, smiles and homemade food, that show me how great this world we live in is. By 12:30 we had the new charcoal grill one of our members-Frank- brought hot and ready for burgers. Dj and I made a short announcement, thanking everyone for coming and making this possible, and spoke about some upcoming events that we are particularly excited about, specifically our Meditation Center at Shady Rest Campground and our next potluck at Shotgun creek. Check out the events page to learn more! Then we all got down to business and plated up all the delicious options that were brought. I wish I could remember all of them but some of the highlights for me were: of course the classic burger slider on a Hawaiian roll, the jalapeno poppers, the chicken and yam cinnamon mix, the pulled pork and the lemon bars. I did hear a lot of praise for the blue cheese salad, but, due to my aversion to blue cheese I did not try it, but everyone loved it!

One thing I think is great about these potlucks is not only getting everyone together and eating good food, but the connections we make with one another. Watching people meet someone new and sparking up a conversation, or people checking-in with someone they haven't seen in a while. Just having this small act of community, I think, plants such a valuable seed in all of us. And that seed is the seed of the community itself. It's the seed of recognizing that we do have people around us who care about us, and we have people that we care about. People to make plans with. Seeing everyone's growth over time and helping one another when we are having a hard time growing. It truly is such a magical thing, and I feel very blessed to be a part of it. What a wonderful tree that grows from the seed of community!

I'd also like to point out what a safe space this is for everyone to be themselves and bring their own friends and family. Our potlucks are filled with friends, grandparents, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters. We even have members with babies which is so amazing. Every potluck the babies get a little bigger, a little wiser and the next thing we know they are walking! And we are all here, being a part of these small magical moments. 

So thank you so much if you made it to the potluck! And if you missed it, it's no problem, we missed you, but not to worry, there will be many, many more potlucks and other activities in the future! I hope everyone had a productive and relaxing Memorial Day weekend. To all our fallen soldiers we remember you and thank them for their service!