I had the joy of seeing something amazing happen Monday evening.
We so often hear negative news about teen-agers, from stories of
drug use to gang activity, to suicide attempts and worse.
Quote from brother Lawrence, who did cleaned kitchens in a monastery in France in the 1600s:
“In the way of God, thoughts count for little, love does everything. And it is not necessary to have great things to do. I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God … Who gave me the grace to make it…more content than a king.”
I had the joy of seeing something amazing happen Monday evening.
We so often hear negative news about teen-agers, from stories of drug use to gang activity, to suicide attempts and worse.
I got a different perspective when I coordinated a group of local middle and high school students who volunteered to feed the homeless for the first time at the temporary winter shelter in Gilroy.
While they were the ones volunteering to serve the food at the National Guard Armory at 8490 Wren Ave., it was necessary for adults to donate and prepare it beforehand.
Even though several parents and friends had volunteered to bring food, I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough. I didn’t have faith that everyone who said they’d bring soup or spaghetti really would.
There are four teams who serve Monday nights, but this month had a fifth Monday.
I had last-minute doubts about the wisdom of volunteering to coordinate this team effort to have kids cover a night when there was no regular team assigned to serve at the shelter.
I found myself praying that we would be able to meet the needs of the people, praying that no one would go away hungry and that our kids would have a good experience feeding the homeless for the first time. But I didn’t really know how the experiment would go.
At first, not all the food had arrived. As I watched how many people were lining up in anticipation of being fed, I felt more and more nervous that we might not have planned enough.
I began to relax when soup began arriving, and retired minister Paul Sweet arrived with more than 150 hot dogs.
Julia Brodersen, mom to one of the young women serving, whipped out her apron and stayed to help, as well as middle school mom, Tina Bartunek.
Lisa Ready, the mom of a Christopher High student who wanted to be there but couldn’t because of a scheduling conflict, had volunteered initially to drop off food.
Once she arrived, she decided to stay. Her assistance enabled the kids to get more out of the experience as things ran more smoothly.
As the evening wore on, I realized the five teen-agers were getting hungry themselves and were not as willing to wait until the end of the evening to have dinner in the usual way the adult team members do.
I was relieved to see we had enough food left for them as well, in spite of how little faith I had about how much would be donated.
However, they needed someplace to sit down.
I was hesitant to send them in to sit among the homeless in the main room – some of whom do not smell or look so pleasant with some suffering from all kinds of disabilities. It would be taking them outside their comfort zone for sure.
But there was really no other place to sit.
I finally decided it made sense to encourage the youth to join them.
They looked too uncomfortable trying to stand, hold their plates and eat. I led the way to find empty chairs for them among the homeless.
As soon as the first youth, Felix, sat down, the haggard man with a tired expression across from him said, “Thank you, thank you for the food.”
The other kids began coming in to sit down, and the homeless folks nearby began saying thank you as they recognized the young people who had served them were now sitting next to them.
One of the youth suddenly put his hot dog down, turned to me and said, “I thought it was going to be really uncomfortable being here, but I’m really glad I came.
“Now I see that they are people just like me.”
I got to witness the very moment when someone’s perspective changed.
It was an opportunity to put real faces on homelessness and start to change how we see them as part of our greater humanity and community.
The kids completely relaxed and ate just as if they were anyplace other than in the middle of a gym surrounded by more than 100 homeless men, women and children.
They were joking around and talking with each other.
We were people sharing a meal together who normally would have no interaction with each other.
The extraordinary thing about the scene was just how ordinary it was.
For more, go to GilroyDispatch.com, click on the “News” tab and click on “Teraji: Making Connections
