"I Was Hungry"

[kpete]

THU APR 19, 2012 AT 07:01 AM PDT
"I Was Hungry"
by mftalbot

ON Wednesday Evenings, I feed the homeless of Berkeley at a Lutheran Church near the Cal campus. I started doing this about a year and a half ago when a friend of mine, who was then just back into Alcoholic Anonymous meetings and sobriety after many years out, recommended the experience.

Doing this has changed me.

At first, it took some getting used to - the smells of people who sleep rough in the streets, who have no dental care, no medical care, faces and bodies begrimed by the doorways that are their pillows every night, and from some the odor of whatever chemical they use to ease the pain of being forgotten.

There are others who are fastidious about their personal hygiene; they sleep in cars or (when it's not pouring rain) in parks. One guy in the halls bought a house and, because he was naive, was cheated out of thousands of dollars, , and at the end of it had no house and had lost his job and was on the streets.

.....................

That's the thing about dealing one-on-one with homeless people: they stop being a category - a mental abstraction, a them, and become richly complex individuals with stories as filled with vice and Divine Grace as my own. When I started, I thought I was bringing Christ's compassion to them - but I realized as time went on that they were really bringing Christ's compassion to me. In those weary faces at the tables, I saw Christ staring back at me, asking me where I'd been all this time. He had been out there, in doorways, on the streets, shivering in cold rains and stumbling in rags and singing forlorn to the midnight streets, waiting for me to show up.

........................

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/19/1084584/--I-Was-Hungry-

[saras]

1. In a lot of ways, "the homeless" is a stupid, meaningless category

They are people with nothing in common, really,except that the fundamentals of civilized life are not available to them at a price they can pay.

[JNelson6563]

2. I have worked in a food pantry.

While I have always been one unforeseen problem away from ruin myself, I've always worried about those with less. I volunteered for a local food pantry and it was very rewarding. We didn't ask questions besides 1. How many people in your household? 2. Do you have cooking facilities? We just wanted to help, not add to their problems or any shame they might feel.

Interestingly enough the food pantry was run by the poorest Catholic parish in the area. I never heard word one about religion between volunteers and the clients that came for food. These folks who were working to help those in need did share with me the same thing as is in this article, they saw Jesus in these people that came for help.

As an atheist I didn't quite see Jesus but it is easy to imagine one's self or loved ones in the faces of these people in serious need.

Those who do this work make me wish there really was a heaven.

Julie

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[SheilaT]

4. I have been helping feed the homeless for about two years now.

A couple of friends of mine are members in a church that has a couple of showers, and three summers in a row on Sundays they were open for several hours for showers, clothing, and a meal for any who came. Only about twenty showers could be taken, but usually those who wanted one was able to get it.

I always worked in the kitchen. We got food from the local food bank which we used, and others brought food they'd either bought or prepared themselves. I worked up a couple of good recipes, one for tuna noodle casserole, another for a chile chicken rice dish. Our guests were always highly appreciative.

Now we have a community run shelter, although it's only open from October to the middle of April. It's run by an interfaith group, and on the coldest days of winter we can barely squeeze in everyone who needs a place to sleep.

The need is out there, and it's all too easy for those who have never been anywhere near homelessness not to understand how quickly it can happen.

Whenever I do my volunteer stint, I'm quite struck by the way some of those who come to us are clearly only recently out on the streets, and others have clearly been on the street for a long time. What I've learned most is not to judge.

[me b zola]

5. This====>>>>

"When I started, I thought I was bringing Christ's compassion to them - but I realized as time went on that they were really bringing Christ's compassion to me."

[gateley]

6. Inspiring. And humbling. nt

[jwirr]

7. I learned that lesson from my disabled daughter and her friends. A beautiful lesson.

[Stuart G]

8. Great Post nt