Turn Your Head...or Engage
Yesterday morning, I woke up later than the usual, shuffling down the stairs into the kitchen to fix myself breakfast (Waffles with blueberries and butter covered with maple syrup alongside a glass of OJ). Along with my morning tradition, I picked up the Post and read through a few articles, including this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010302060.html?hpid=moreheadlines.
It is all about this group of volunteers from a Methodist church in downtown D.C. Those volunteers wake up early every morning and give homeless people a place to eat breakfast, use clean bathrooms, and have a few hours to avoid the harshly cold city weather. I was impressed with the stories of those volunteers and was even more inspired by Rob Farley, the de-facto program director, who said "you either turn your head or engage."
While I was reading the article (and of course, enjoying my toasted waffles), I counted my blessings, as I was not only enjoying engaging myself with the news and delicious food, but was doing so in the comfort of my folk's home.
Now that I know where that group is located (it's actually close to places I have worked for in the past), while I'm on winter break for a few more weeks, I'd like to spend a few mornings helping that group in the downtown, sharing the news and waffles with those less fortunate than I am.
January 6, 2010 at 2:51 PM
There's one church on the way into old town gaithersburg where all the churches around there send volunteers for the community food pantry/ soup kitchen they have. Every night in the basement of the catholic church gather the volunteers from the methodist, or presbetyrian, or lutheran, etc congregations, and the hungry people coming in from the cold for a brief grace and many plates of food. a social worker at one of the side tables checks in with people one by one. there's the old piano that sometimes one of the men plays, and there's the old meaning of the word catholic, as in all-encompassing. but they have not got blueberries waffles, that i have ever seen. that's a good thought!