Industrial dishwasher delivers a big hit for the Ann Arbor A’s

If there has been a running theme for Anna’s Kindness volunteers who help at The Breakfast at St. Andrews, it is this:

There is an odd fascination with the industrial dishwasher.

Let’s be more specific.

Middle school boys have had an odd fascination with the industrial dishwasher.

Nearly every boy who has volunteered with Anna’s Kindness to serve breakfast at Ann Arbor’s St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church has found themselves admiring the automatic dishwasher.

The Ann Arbor A’s Green 12U baseball team was no different Saturday morning.

Slauson Middle School 6th grader Nate Zumbrunnen and Forsythe Middle School 7th grader Charlie Andrew-Vaughan handled dishwashing duties on Saturday, as the A’s ballplayers joined Anna’s Kindness to serve breakfast to those in need at St. Andrew’s.

“It cleans the dishes in like 30 seconds,” Nate Zumbrunnen told his teammate Julius Kass.

“Magical,” said Julius, a 7th grader at Tappan Middle School.

While Nate and Charlie — along with Charlie’s father Derek — managed dishwashing, their teammates Julius, Dominik Bell, Donovan McKeon, and Tys Verhey-Henke handed out oatmeal, grits, pastries, juice, and hot coffee to guests.

Mini blueberry muffins went quickly for Julius, who had to restock midway through the one-hour breakfast service.

Donovan and Dominik were pouring out the oatmeal and grits, and spent some of their down time — the crowd was a slittle smaller Saturday due in part to the poor weather — color coding the stack of trays (first the orange, then the darker orange, then darker darker orange, then brown).

Coach Ryan Verhey-Henke pinch-hit where needed, including making milk from powder for the next day’s breakfast service.

His son Tys poured out coffee for guests, and was surehanded throughout the hour. It was only in the late innings, after meal service had finished and the boys were cleaning up the kitchen, that Tys recorded the team’s first error of the morning. The Slauson 6th grader couldn’t quite find the handle on a tall bag of Cheerios while he was refilling the cereal dispensers. That resulted in a wild pitch, and a large pool of Cheerios on the kitchen floor. Tys grabbed a broom; the kitchen floor may have never been cleaner following the error.

A big thank you to Linda and Mark, who helped Anna’s Kindness for the second time in helping guide the boys during the meal service. And we appreciate the continued support of Morgan, Susette and The Breakfast at St. Andrew’s for allowing Anna’s Kindness to share in their ministry of serving those in need.

If you’d like to keep up with Anna’s Kindness throughout the year, please ‘like’ Anna’s Kindness on Facebook or follow on Instagram and Twitter. If interested in being added to our volunteer mailing list, email annaskindness@yahoo.com.

#randomactsofanna