OUTREACH # 7 (Saturday, May 18, 2019)
The alarm woke us up bright and early at 6:00 AM this morning. We had decided that we would be downtown by 10:30 AM the latest, and we still had to go through some clothing and finish filling up some Project Dignity bags. Once we finally finished, Beau prepared 70 cups of coffee, while I filled the sugar, milk and cream containers and gathered the cups, stir sticks, etc. We stopped to eat a healthy breakfast of bananas and oatmeal, then filled up the vehicle with the folding table, coffee, and all the filled Project Dignity bags. We were finally on our way!
We arrived downtown and set up on the edge of the sidewalk near the Salvation Army. Since this is now our seventh outreach, we immediately recognized a few familiar faces. When we arrive, we are now greeted enthusiastically with smiles, and I noticed a few fellows are greeting us, especially Beau, by name. It didn’t take us very long to set up, and almost immediately a line up had formed for coffee and clothing.
Today was an extra special day for us because we were joined by a few wonderful people, who gave up some of their precious free time to come and volunteer with us today!
Beau’s co-worker Martin came out and joined us to give a helping hand and to chat and interact with some of the individuals we encountered. Martin generously brought 2 large boxes of donuts and Timbits as a little sweet treat to share out along with the coffee. We thought it was such a kind gesture, and you could see right away how much those donuts were being enjoyed and appreciated! Martin had such a positive experience with us, that he told Beau that
he would definitely come out again to help us sometimes. Thank you so much for your help, Martin! We certainly really appreciate it and we welcome you with open arms anytime you want to come and join us again!
We were also joined by Beau’s stepdaughter Shanie and her sweet little girl. Shanie wanted to show her support of the cause, by coming by to help us out. Shanie really enjoyed chatting with some of the people who were having coffee. The men were quite smitten with the baby, as she beamed and smiled back at them as they spoke to her and tried to make her laugh. It really struck me that many of these men could indeed be grandfathers themselves. You could see their faces softening and the momentary happiness
in their eyes, while they were interacting with this little cutie! I wondered quietly to myself if any of them were a grandfather, would they have ever met their grandchildren? Would they even have the chance to see them, hang out with them, love them, and in return be loved by them?! Where are their families? It is the normal, loving interactions with our fellow humans, especially our families, which give us the feeling of happiness, togetherness, belonging, acceptance and love! Sadly, this is something that is definitely lacking in many of these individual’s lives!
Once all the items of clothing were handed out, we packed up the vehicle and headed over to the Shepherd of Good Hope. We had a large amount of women’s clothing to hand out thanks to the numerous donations we received these past few weeks. Once we arrived, we noticed a large group of individuals sitting outside along the sidewalk. Again, we recognized a few faces from some of the times before. We still had some Timbits left over, so I proceeded to walk around and share them out, while Beau started handing out the women’s Project Dignity bags. By the time I came back to join him, a group of women had gathered around to pick out some clothing.
There were certainly many happy women at the end of it all! We managed to give away a large amount of clothing and footwear directly to the very people that need them the most!
Again, none of this could have taken place without the most generous donations from Cindy (we will still be giving away many more of your donated items during our next few outreaches), Corina, Claudio, Allen, and Stephanie + family. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness and generosity! Without all of you, we couldn’t do what we do!