More than a Free Meal

According to a 2021 poll, only 7% of American’s consider Wednesday their favorite day of the week. But for many at the NCS Residence, hump day is the best day.

For the past twenty years, youth volunteers from The Brick Presbyterian Church have prepared, served, and enjoyed dinner with guests from NCS each week. What started as mandatory community service has grown into so much more.

Confirmation candidates at The Brick Church are required to volunteer at two NCS dinners while in 8th grade. But many of the young volunteers love the experience and getting to know the residents so much that they come every week to catch up with their NCS neighbors turned friends.

“There are kids who started volunteering in 8th grade and years later will come back to volunteer while home on college break or when visiting family after college,” shared The Reverend Adam Gorman, who leads the dinner program. “These dinners are an important part of the week for the kids in the church but we make sure they understand that it’s also an important part of the week for the NCS guests,” Rev. Gorman explained.

Will Ryckman is one of these kids. He began volunteering five years ago as an 8th grade student and soon became a regular at the dinners. His two younger brothers, George and James, wanted to join him, and soon their father, Bill, began volunteering as one of the deacon leaders who supervised. It was a family affair. “It’s not just about the meal,” Bill Ryckman explains. “It’s about the companionship. Over the years, the kids have gotten to know the NCS guests and really learn their stories and the guests love talking to the kids. It’s meaningful for everyone involved.”

For the Ryckman family, one guest has made an especially big impact. Ronald, a long-time resident at the NCS Residence and frequent dinner guest, is known around NCS for his love of literature, a passion he shares with the young volunteers at Brick.

“Will, George, and James would come home from the dinners and tell me about Ronald,” their mother Pamela Ryckman shared. “He loved talking to them about the books they were reading and would really engage them with discussions about history and biographies. George was in 5th grade when he started volunteering and he was interested in Lincoln at the time. He bonded with Ronald talking about the former president.”

The feeling is mutual! Ronald appreciates the sense of community these dinners help build. “Brick Church is my favorite place to hang out,” he shared. “Being around the young kids is inspiring because they are really genuine and sincere about what they’re doing— it is uplifting just to be around the young people, it enlivens me.”

Ronald became so close with the Ryckman family that he would often attend their school wrestling matches to cheer the boys on, joined the family when they went to see To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, and even wrote a letter of recommendation when George applied to school.

Thank you, Brick Presbyterian Church, for bringing Ronald and the Ryckman’s together, and for twenty years of dinners, memories, and friendship between your parishioners of all ages and the NCS guests who have become a part of your community.