Friday, November 7, 2025
Heather Pens is a personification of an old West African proverb and Quaker saying, “When you pray, move your feet.”
After beating a dozen or so eggs in a large bowl, Pens walked across her kitchen to another counter and began to ladle the eggs onto a bed of chopped spinach, onions, red peppers and mushrooms into two large aluminum pans. She was preparing frittatas to feed 20 homeless individuals at the Unity Commons Interfaith Works Emergency Overnight Shelter in Olympia.
“Two other people are making the same amount of this dish,” continued Pens, as she moved again across the kitchen, “so we will be delivering 60 meals today.”
Asked if her preparation of food for the homeless is a witnessing of her faith, Pens replied in the affirmative.
“What I’m doing is a quiet resistance to what I perceive to be a wrong — that there are homeless people in this country,” the devote Quaker explained, “and people need food.”
Pens is a member of the Olympia Friends Meeting, a liberal, unprogrammed branch of Quakerism. They respect the sanctity of all human beings and the equality of all, value diversity in opinions, and oppose all kinds of violence while seeking nonviolent solutions to conflict. Quakers live by the Quaker Testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship.
Quakers (or Friends) are members of a family of religious movements collectively known as the Religious Society of Friends. They hold that God is found within themselves, not without, and because of this, the most traditional Quaker services (called meetings) are silent gatherings where Quakers come to meditate, only breaking the hush when they feel led to speak their thoughts aloud for the benefit of the meeting.
Pens walking through her prayer of helping the homeless by the preparing of home cooked meals began six years ago.
“I just started doing this and told others that they were welcome to join me,” explained Pens. “They did.”
She soon began to coordinate the Olympia Friends Meeting’s volunteers. Since then, the Friends who volunteer their time and efforts prepare food monthly on the fourth Saturday at 6 p.m. and on the second Friday at noon. The meals are then delivered by her husband, Dan Pens, to Unity Commons.
“We see the economic and social issue of homelessness and we address it,” he said. “This is what Quakers do.”
People wishing to volunteer time and effort to help fix meals are asked to email hptrillium@gmail.com. To learn more about the Olympia Friends Meeting, click here.
4 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
PatMer
Thank you Heather and Olympia Friends, you are very compassionate.
Friday, October 17 Report this
pbaron1902
Adding much needed kindness is a real blessing, not only for the homeless, but for everyone. Thank you!
Friday, October 17 Report this
Callie
Your quiet witness is an inspiration.
Friday, October 17 Report this
AvivaF
Heather - thank you for your kind and steadfast work organizing this project and providing food.
Friday, October 17 Report this