We have many homeless people here wondering the streets. I like to put together sack lunches, a roast beef sandwich, an egg salad or chicken salad sandwich, a cupcake or cookies, a piece of fruit and bottle of water. Then drive around handing them out to people. I try to do a dozen a week...Its not cash but I always see them opening the bag and eating so I know they are getting the benefit of the food.

[ June 26, 2006, 05:28 PM: Message edited by: chatty lady ]

Wow, Chatty! That is soooo neat! I want you to know that your generosity of spirit has made my day (it's been a tough one)!

When I worked at the church, we would buy McDonald's gift certificates. That's another way to do your part. When you give money, you never know what it's being used for. Gift certificates feed them! And so do chatty's lunches! Heck chatty, I'll take on of those.

Chatty, you rock!

Years ago I worked at a soup kitchen for homeless men (it's now open to both men and women). It was drilled into us not to ever give money to homeless people on the streets (we saw first-hand where the money almost always went), but we were encouraged to buy gift certificates from places like McDonald's, Tim Horton's, or even to take people into a restaurant and arrange to pay for their meal.

We have a lot of homeless people begging on the streets here, and I do sometimes drop a few coins in their hat...I've never been homeless, but have come very close to it - and have known what it is to be broke and hungry with no idea where the next meal is coming from, so I often can't just pass these people by without contributing a few coins or at the very least a smile and hello.

When I was still working, I would sometimes buy two of whatever I was getting for myself for lunch and then give the extra to someone on the street. One day I bought the wrong size of French fries at KFC - I thought I had ordered the regular size, but got the FAMILY size. I ate a few, then saw a woman and her young daughter outside one of the restaurants...they both looked scared, hungry and lost...I offered them the still-full box of French fries and will never forget their response - their eyes lit up and you'd think someone had given them a million dollars; the mother looked so grateful.

I still don't know what their story was, I never saw them again after that day, but I think they WERE scared, hungry and lost - perhaps they had just escaped from an abusive home? I'll never know, but I'll never forget knowing in my heart that it had been no mistake ordering the "wrong" size of French fries that day!

What wonderful connections to the human spirit all of these testimonials are! There are many many homeless here in Santa Cruz. We seem to attract them because it's a pretty liberal place. There is a brand new shelter that we built and decorated. My church helped support the building and decorated it. It's an attractive building that most people would like to live in.

I try to remember to pick up an extra something every time I shop to go into the food basket at church. I admit I have been lax lately, so I will need to remember to do that again. I think fear of my own lack of income is constricting me. I just need to have faith. :-))

Casey, I'm often emotionally overcome by my inability to "do enough" these days, but financial limitations are a reality - and so is learning to live within those and other limitations. I personally don't have the emotional/mental stamina, financial or other resources to do very much anymore. And it grieves me to have to pull back on those charitable impulses, but that's my reality. I'm severely burnt out and until I learn to live within my limitations, I will continue to break down, burn out and be dysfunctional for long periods of time.

So I'm learning (albeit painfully slowly) to let go of a lot these days, including the need to feel hugely useful and the ability to do "great things"...I'm learning that even the simplest expressions of kindness (a smile and hello) can be just as important in someone else's day as anything else I've ever given away.

Sigh. It's not the same as being able to put a bag of groceries in the foodbank box, or buy someone a meal - I may never get back to being able to do those things - but I can only do what I can with what I've got, and if it's nothing but a smile, then I have to do the best I can with nothing but a smile.

Hi, Eagle Heart: A smile can do so much for another because that gives so much of one's spirit and goodwill as it is carried forward by another in the course of the day. A smile, or even wishing someone a good day, especially those who least expect to be wished because people see them as fixtures to services rather than as people (street sweeper, policeman, the bus driver to name a few) is so uplifting. I have been on the receiving end of smiles and wishes from complete strangers countless of times and I "pay forward" in the same manner the result of which, makes me feel that all be well come what may.

Eagle,
When you post on this site, you are feeding us as much as if you were giving food to the hungry. You are feeding our hungry soul. Your generosity shows in every word. And we are grateful.

Maybe not being able to give in the way you would like makes you feel powerless, but it should not. I heard a preacher say he had received a letter from someone willing to pay any amount of money for salvation, because they couldn't accept it as a free gift. It seems as if receiving would make us weak, but instead, in receiving, especially the gift of salvation, we acquire the greatest power of all.

I see something related to that in Indian pow wows honoring returning soldiers. The warrior is not showered with gifts as he might be in an anglo ceremony. Instead, he is allowed to 'give' gifts. To the music of the drums, he gives blankets to those who come to honor him. It is a beautiful and empowering ceremony.

Thank you for every smile you generously give us in every one of your posts.

smile

[ June 27, 2006, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: smilinize ]

Oh Smile, what/who would I be now without you and my boomer sisters here?! Honestly, you have no idea what horrible place I was in when I stumbled in here. It's taking me a long time to get out of that funk, one step at a time (actually, it feels more like five steps forward, four steps back!) but oh, what a wonderful gift God has given us here, with so many amazing, loving companions-along-the-way! Tears are flowing down my face in sheer gratitude for all that this place and you women are in my journey.

And if it's true that anything I do/say/smile here helps anyone else, well, that's more than I could ever have hoped for!! Because I honestly didn't think that I'd ever get to a place where I could be good for anything ever again. But this site not only provides a safe place to "be", it's also a safe place to "give" whatever one is capable of giving at any given time...even if it is a cyber-smile!

I'm stunned by God's mercy and faithfulness...indeed, He has shown me in the most beautiful way that I am truly not alone anymore. Is it any wonder we long to pay it forward in whatever small way we can when He fills our hearts and lives with such evidence of how much we are beloved!

Eagle, one way you have given to me and some others here is your book. I'm sure it's ministered to many women going through the same thing you have survived, as it did me.

You've given your heart and that is much more difficult to give than money.

Daisygirl