All Smiles at Liberty Plaza

Megan Garrett loves to volunteer to help others. So it was no surprise the Slauson Middle School eighth grader was smiling and dishing Friday night when she joined Anna’s Kindness to help feed the homeless in Liberty Plaza Friday night.

“I’m just so happy,” she beamed while in the same breath was handing out slices of pizza to the line of guests. “I really like making people smile.”

Plenty of guests were smiling, thanks to Megan and four Forsythe Middle School sixth graders — Bailey Edison, Lucas Johal-Smith, Lincoln Kowalk, and Arjun Joshi — who offered food and warm beverages to the less fortunate on a reasonably mild February evening in downtown Ann Arbor.

Lincoln and Lucas teamed up to provide coffee and hot chocolate to the guests. And although the boys were rather quiet, their service was impeccable. Lucas also helped distribute bags of food to those in the plaza.

Bailey and Arjun showed their wide range of skills by switching between the drink station and pizza during the one-hour meal service, handing out food just in time for the end of the evening rush. Bailey, Arjun and Megan not only handed out slices from 25 pizzas, there were additional pizzas and breadsticks which went out to those guests who stayed to the end.

Thank you to all the middle school students who teamed up with Anna’s Kindness, not to mention Ruthie Kowalk and Hardeesh Johal-Smith for lending a hand with the meal service. And a very special thank you to Tom Probst and Vineyard Church for allowing Anna’s Kindness to be a part of their wonderful mission to help the less fortunate in Ann Arbor.

You can follow Anna’s Kindness on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Email annaskindness@yahoo.com if you’d like your student to be a part of an upcoming Anna’s Kindness volunteer event.