We woke up at 6:30 AM in anticipation of what our first outreach in 2020 would have in store for us. Somehow, we both had the feeling that it was going to be an awesome day! The evening before, our dear friend and neighbour Sharon, knocked on our door and handed us a large container full of freshly, home-baked cookies to bring with us today, as well as a container full of mixed candies (jelly beans, Ju Jubes, gummy bears, etc.)
Thank you for your thoughtful and caring gesture. What a wonderful New Year’s treat for the fellows, some of whom you personally met when you joined us a few outreaches ago. You are a true angel! Since we had already received a few other packages of cookies (Oreo style, Vanilla, Chocolate, and tea biscuits), we filled 50 sandwich bags with a hand full of candies & 4-5 cookies each. We also brought along a box of 64 protein bars. After a great breakfast and coffee/tea, we quickly started with all the usual preparations. Beau made 48 cups of hot chocolate in a huge pot on the stove, which when finished, we poured into the large hot beverage container.
This container keeps liquids hot for many hours. Beau also started brewing the coffee in the urn. Since the hot chocolate is so popular, we decided to scale back on the coffee and will only bring about 30 cups any time we also bring hot chocolate, to avoid needless waste. We cram-packed the car with all the usual things, including the table, rack, urn, hot beverage container, 3 drawer chest full of toiletries, etc., a large bin full of socks/boxers/undershirts, another large bin full of hats/tuques/mitts/gloves/scarves/neck warmers, a full rack’s worth of warm clothing, another racks worth of winter coats, a box full of boots (mostly women’s), the cooler with milk/cream/sugar, bag full of coffee accessories (cups, stir sticks, etc.), box of protein bars, and the cookie/candy treat bags. It never ceases to amaze me that everything fits into our little Elantra, but somehow it just does! Since we were low on coffee cups, we had to stop at Dollarama to pick up a few packages. This put us a little bit behind, making it a 10:45 AM arrival.
As we arrived in front of the Salvation Army for our Outreach # 22, a fairly steady, wet snow was falling from above. Thankfully it was not a cold day! We quickly set everything up, while we greeted and chatted with the steady stream of guys coming to say ‘Happy New Year’, help themselves to a hot beverage & sweet treat, as well as look through and pick out some well needed warm clothing items and toiletries. We ended up having some really nice conversations with a number of individuals while joining them for a yummy hot chocolate. We are so often told how much our coming out consistently every two weeks is appreciated, and that many look forward to us coming. It really warms our hearts to hear this, because we also really look forward to and enjoy it as well! I have to mention, that the whole time we were downtown the snow kept falling and falling, making everything super wet! By 11:45 AM, the hot chocolate, protein bars, treats, and much of the clothing were gone. We slowly started packing up, wiping down everything with paper towels before putting them in the car. Shortly before noon we said goodbye to the few remaining fellows and were on our way home. Our jackets and gloves were soaking wet, but we had a warm glow in our hearts and a thankful, happy smile on our faces!
It was another wonderful, successful outreach thanks to the help of all of you! Every one of your donations has helped Project Dignity for All continue consistently do our outreach since March of 2019, right to the end of the year, and now continuing on into 2020. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your generousity and caring!
We want to thank each and every one of you for any and all donations. Without all of you, we couldn’t do what we do!