The Sunday prior to Christmas my children, husband and self spent a day with the homeless… To be perfectly honest our church is a contributor to an event called “Church in the park” it is an amazing ministry…. Our church participates in providing clothing tables in the months of November thru January. My husband and I have been “waiting” for the right opportunity, the right age, the right… blah, blah, blah. Well in all honesty folks there is nothing that has to be “right” with giving back, except your heart. There isn’t an age limitation on homelessness, or need… nor are there color lines. We took a leap of faith… and jumped feet forward. Two days before our event my husband checked the forecast… mentioning that Sunday’s forecast was gust and high rain. My response to that – we all have enough rain gear for an army – we will be fine, and the homeless will still be there.
That said, I could not have been more proud of my family, especially my children. We loaded trucks full of clothing and shoes, and hygiene bags. My son, helped with all the manly duties he could (he’s 11!) taking on huge bags of clothes, etc. My daughter and I started organizing tables of clothes, by gender, size and clothing type. When the service was over the attendees were given a ticket that entitled them to a hygiene bag and as many clothing items as they could carry… My son distributed shoes in the right size, and my baby girl (7) helped with children’s clothing… we made it about 2 hours in with little to no rain, then the heavens came down. We had tarps to keep the clothing dry, but as we noticed the homeless scatter throughout the park we realized there were still many people with children that needed to make their way home or to bus stops… my husband used our 1999 Toyota Corolla to take families of four to the nearest bus stop so the children would say remotely dry.
Our hearts were so full at the end of the day. We talked about it with the kids, asked what they learned… what they felt. I can’t sum up all of the things that their little minds said, but it was touching. Some of it is still so far from their reality. There was one little boy that touched my son… he was around the same age, looked normal enough… but the giveaway as to his status were his shoes… Nike cleats. Yes, in all the rain, and weather – the kid still tried to wear something “cool” - it wasn’t until he came around with his ticket that my son realized that this child of his own age, who he could be friends with – really was in need… he was so excited to get a red scarf to stay warm… and he found a pretty cool hoodie too!
Enjoy the attached pictures and know that it’s not the big things, and there is no “right” moment… all that has to be right is your heart!
Love, Mo
