The Power of Presence: Hunger, Hope, and Human Connection--Fr. Will Crist and Maurice Baz, December 3, 2025

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The Power of Presence: Hunger, Hope, and Human Connection--Fr. Will Crist and Maurice Baz, December 3, 2025

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Episode Description The Heart of Laguna – “The Power of Presence: Hunger, Hope, and Human Connection” What if addressing hunger isn’t only about food—but about restoring dignity, belonging, and hope? In this deeply moving episode of The Heart of Laguna, I sit down with Maurice Baz, Co-Chair of the Laguna Beach Interfaith Council and Data Project Manager at the Laguna Food Pantry. Maurice brings us inside the quiet, transformational work happening every morning behind the pantry doors—where groceries are shared, but so are stories, courage, and second chances. From a barefoot boy on the streets of India, to a life-altering family medical crisis in Europe, to a simple jacket placed on a stranger’s shoulders outside the pantry—Maurice traces the moments that forged his calling to serve. Together, we explore hunger not only as a social problem, but as a sacred space for encounter. We talk about presence as a spiritual discipline, volunteering as a form of resistance against division, and Laguna Beach as a microcosm of both beauty and hidden need. This episode is a powerful invitation: not simply to help, but to belong—to step into the shared human circle where no one is invisible and everyone matters.Show Notes Guest: Maurice Baz Data Project Manager, Laguna Beach Food PantryCo-Chair, Laguna Beach Interfaith CouncilVolunteer, humanitarian, technologist, and lifelong advocate for inclusive community serviceBackground in machine learning, physics education, disability advocacy, and global volunteer workIn This Episode, We Explore: 1. A Life Formed by Service Across the WorldGrowing up across cultures—from Washington, DC to London and the Middle EastEarly volunteer work in Lebanon, Colombia, and the UKMusic, disability, and the neurological power of human connectionFrom machine learning engineer to grassroots community servant2. Five Defining Moments that Shaped a CallingIndia, age 7: Witnessing joy and dignity in profound povertyDr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Learning to hold “infinite hope” amid finite disappointmentA mother’s catastrophic injury: Learning that dignity is not lost in sufferingThe Fundamental Attribution Error: Why we misjudge people in hardshipA winter morning at the pantry: A stranger gives his jacket to a homeless man—no words exchangedEach story reveals the same truth: “Service isn’t about fixing people. It’s about walking beside them.”3. The Laguna Beach Food Pantry: More Than a Food ProgramFounded after the 1993 Laguna firesGrew from serving 80 families per day pre-COVID to nearly 290 families per day todaySupported by 28 grocery partners through California’s SB1383 food recovery lawBacked by 200 active volunteersWho the Pantry Serves:Working familiesSeniors on fixed incomesHospitality workersSchool bus driversSingle parentsPeople living in their carsDistribution: 🕗 Monday–Friday | 8:00–10:30 AM🌐 www.lagunafoodpantry.org🔗 Resource Guide: bit.ly/ocresources4. Hunger as a Doorway to Human EncounterHunger as quiet trauma—not just empty stomachsWhy behavior often hides unseen painHow a simple “How are you really doing?” changes everythingThe pantry as a place where:Guests become volunteersVolunteers become neighborsReceiving help becomes an act of courageOffering help becomes an act of respect5. Volunteering as a Spiritual & Moral PracticeService as presence—not performanceVolunteering as a reset for the human soulOne hour can change:How you see othersHow you see yourselfHow you see your city“We don’t need to save the world. We need to touch it.”6. Laguna Beach: Beauty, Disparity, and Shared ResponsibilityExtreme wealth and hidden hunger existing side by sideHousing as both an economic and emotional crisisThe grief of displacementThe danger of invisibility in a thriving cityWhy the “other” is always already part of “us”7. The Interfaith Council: Where Faith Becomes ActionLeaders from churches, synagogues, Baha’i community, shelter services, and nonprofitsMonthly gatherings grounded in prayer and real-world needsSupport for:Cold weather sheltersFriendship Shelter day servicesPantry distributionYouth unhoused outreach“It’s the only room where you hear ‘Amen,’ ‘Baruch Adonai,’ and ‘Do we have enough folding chairs?’ in the same minute.” Signs of Hope & ResilienceA man at the pantry saying quietly: “I’m trying again.”A daily walk to the ocean as an act of defiance against despairNeighbors donating “extra” produce without needing recognitionThe quiet persistence of people choosing to begin againKey Invitation from This Episode If you do one thing this week:Volunteer one hourGo somewhere unfamiliarStand beside someone you don’t usually meetLet yourself be changed by presence—not politicsPractice listening without solvingThat’s how communities heal.About the Show The Heart of Laguna is a weekly conversation from KXFM in Laguna Beach. Each episode explores what holds us together when the ...

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