Stuck on the subway in Manhattan, I turned to my New York Times and read about the slip in quality of service that has straphangers fuming. Yep, I thought, rolling my eyes, welcome to the morning commute.
The delay gave me enough time to read another article. I glanced at the caption for the piece above. “Chuck Piekarski, the pastry chef for God’s Love We Deliver, a charity that prepares meals for people who are too sick to cook or shop for themselves.”
They’ve served 19 million meals so far, and in his 26 years there, Mr. Piekarski has baked 9 million cakes, a sizeable portion of those decorated and personalized for birthdays–purple inscription on white frosting, don’t forget the dainty flowers and leaves. The big happy guy in the photo didn’t look like a cake boss, even if his Polish last name does mean “baker.” I wondered what had kept him in his job for so long. Almost as long as I’d been at Guideposts.
Read More: Meet a White House Pastry Chef
Of course the Times reporter wondered too: Mr. Piekarski was a theater and music major in college and spent more time after graduation looking for work rather than doing it. He finally answered a want ad for a baker, never having heard of God’s Love. Its mission resonated: “You hope somebody would do the same thing for you,” he told the Times.
So it wasn’t even 9 a.m. and already I’d met an angel. Yep, welcome to the morning commute!
