Not everyone gets to spend Christmas day off from work – many stores, gas stations and restaurants have operating hours on Christmas and there are police, emergency and hospital personnel who must spend at least a part of their day working.
This year, some of those workers will receive a small gift from participants in the Lifetree Café which meets every Tuesday evening (with the exception of Christmas and New Year’s weeks when they will meet on Monday evening) at the Hamlin Station Bar and Grill.
Lifetree Café invites participants to an hour of stories and conversation on a wide range of topics that explore life and faith and which “feed the soul,” the Lifetree Café website states.
Laura Amor of Clarkson started the Hamlin Lifetree Café in April 2013.
“There are about 300 Lifetree Cafe’s running nationally since it’s inception by Group Publishing around four years ago,” she says. “It’s a high quality organization and well put together. The host leads the conversation on the topic of the evening.”
Lifetree Café is also in other countries besides the U.S., she adds.
The program begins with a short film about real-life people and participants then discuss the compelling issues raised by the film. “It’s the kind of place where you’d meet a friend,” Amor says. “Where the atmosphere encourages conversations, questions, and personal stories.”
In late November, “A Christmas Surprise, Rekindling the Joy of Christmas,” was shown and discussed.
“It (featured) an interview with a man in Tennessee, Alan Kobs, who bakes and gives away thousands of cookies every Christmas season,” Amor says.
Participants then crafted origami stars and magnets – and on Christmas – “We will take a moment to deliver that craft to someone in our community who has to work on Christmas Day,” Amor explains, “as a way of saying ‘thank-you and Merry Christmas.’ ”
The group will focus on locations in the Brockport/Hamlin area.
“We want to show them we appreciate what they are doing on Christmas and that we are grateful and are thinking about them,” Amor says.
The Lifetree Café weekly gatherings are open to everyone, she explains. “Whether you are part of a church or not, or don’t want to be. Come as you are.”
Amor says participants discuss the weekly topic in large and small groups and meetings are structured to last one hour.
“You can stay and talk longer if you like,” she says. “Lifetree Café is a safe and secure place to have conversations with people about life and faith.”
Most participants come from Hamlin, Kendall, Brockport and Hilton, Amor says, but people have come from as far as Pittsford and Buffalo.
In addition to the “Christmas Surprise,” other recent topics have included overcoming hardships, the art of listening, getting past your past, and forgiving the unforgivable which featured, “a filmed interview with the son of famed restauranteur and author Viola Barrios, who was murdered in her home in 2009. While the nation mourned for her, her son not only forgave the murderer, but also paid for his attorney,” Amor says.
She thanks St. John Lutheran Church in Hamlin for funding the local Lifetree Café. Amor says she currently has a volunteer staff of 15 and weekly attendance ranges from 25-30 people.
The Hamlin Lifetree Café is held Tuesdays at 7 p.m. (with the exception of December 23 and December 30 due to the holidays) at the Hamlin Station Bar and Grill on Railroad Avenue.
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