I went to feed the homeless yesterday. It must be over 2 years already since I first started. I was looking for something to do, maybe a service project of some sort. Something to show my children that life wasn’t all about taking and that giving should be an important part of our life. I received a call from my friend Barry. He asked me if I wanted to go “feed the homeless” with him and our friend Terri. I thought this might be the answer. So, I agreed to go with him. We meet at his Church, the Upper Dublin Lutheran Church. We meet up with maybe 20 other people. We packed up his and a few other cars and we left. When we arrived at the mission at 11th & Spring Garden Sts in Philadelphia, we set up the tables and food. Someone was playing a drum set along with some Christian music while the guests came in and where seated. We all sang a couple songs. There was a reading from the bible followed by a short homily. We then all gave thanks and then the feeding began. My job was to hand out sodas. It was actually a lot more work than I thought it would be. I ended up working up a pretty good sweat. However, I really enjoyed myself. The guests were not what I quite what I expected. I had gone to school in center city for 6 years and I live in Philadelphia for most of my life. So, seeing homeless people was not new to me. The guests were not what I expected them to be. I am not sure what I expected, but they were all kind and respectful. A lot seemed sad and bashful. I tried to speak to each and everyone as they came through the line. I did my best to make choosing a soda a pleasant experience. I don’t really know what they thought, but I did get some of them to smile and respond. I can’t really say if they got any benefit out of my 10 second conversation. What I can tell you is that it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I am sure that I got way more out of it than I ever expected.
Since then my friend Al, another Catholic like myself, has joined us. And our friend Tom, a Quaker, has joined us when needed. Barry’s church does it the second Saturday of every month. I am sort of a backup for when more hands are needed. I have not done it every month since then, but I have made most of them. My wife and children have all participated on occasion. The motto seems to be “If our efforts have helped the life of one person, it has all been worth the effort”. I am not sure I will ever know if we have been truly successful, but I can tell you that, I have received more from doing this than I could ever put in. If you have never helped out in a situation like this, go ahead and take a chance. Your life will never be the same.
You may wonder why I mention the different religions of the people involved. I think there is something special to be noted here. There are many different denominations of Churches in the, 29 I think, that make up the churches that support the Chosen 300 Ministries. In our little group alone there are at least 3 different religions involved, all working together to do something good. I think this is a good sign. What do you think?
1 Comments:
I had the opportunity to participate in this experience yesterday. My daughter, her boyfried and I all felt this was one of the most rewarding experiences we have ever had. The people we served were very grateful and nice under their circumstances. My daughter and I will continue to do this, in fact, it has inspired Rachel to bake cookies and buy things for them for next time with her own money. This is truly the work Jesus wants us to do.
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