Special Soup

Nearly every week, our friends from Developmental Enterprises Corporation (DEC) in Worcester deliver homemade soups to Manna on Main Street. DEC is a place where special needs adults come together to learn basic living skills and to have a sense of belonging.

Sometimes we put people in a box, thinking that there are only certain things they are capable of accomplishing. Time and again, the caring people at DEC have made an impact on the community by sharing their gifts and helping us provide service to other people in need.

Packed In

Last Saturday it was packed with both food and Cub Scouts. Specifically, Cub Pack 152, visited Manna on Main Street to sort food. As Liz would say (she's our director of volunteers) it's crazy-fun when we have a large group show up to do a service project. Our space is very small, so when 17 preadolescent boys and 20 family members arrived to help, we crammed some in the basement, and sent contingents outside to shovel the sidewalk and sort food in our outside storage area. While it can be challenging finding constructive work for everyone, we find that having the kids here has a lasting impression on them. Maybe it's because they get to sign the wall when they're finished or because they had so much fun being here. Perhaps too, they felt like they made a difference.

Lost

We received the call at 2:00 AM from the local police. A woman in her late 20s had been released from the hospital and needed a place to stay for the evening. We'll call her Angie.

The officer took Angie to a nearby motel where we have an arrangement for people who are homeless. I called her in the mid-morning, knowing that check-out time was 11:00, wanting to learn more about her situation and what we might need to do to help move her along. When she answered the phone, it took only a few seconds to recognize the emptiness. Angie wasn't sure what she was going to do; maybe get in touch with a friend from ten years ago who could put her up. While we were talking, the police showed up and she said they would take care of things, and Angie hung up. I thought we had heard the last of her.

Not an hour later, the phone rang. It was Angie. She wasn't able to get her things together in time for the police to take her to the train station. It was raining miserably hard, so I told her we would come pick her and bring her back to Manna so she could eat, then help move her along.

When picking up a stranger, especially a woman, I take someone with me, so Liz Coyne, our director of volunteers drove our van to the motel. When Angie came down to the office, that same vagueness of purpose was with her. She had found an umbrella and wasn't sure if she should leave it at the motel or take it along. While it was obviously pouring, Angie commented that it wasn't raining where we stood under the the roofed entryway.

As we drove back to Manna, the comments from Angie were scattered: where could she get a cigarette; she used to play softball, naming the different positions; had last lived in New Jersey; she could really drink a Yuengling right now (Liz smilingly commented that we weren't serving that at Manna today - it would be vegetable soup and chicken pot-pie).

Back at Manna, Angie made friendly conversation with the volunteers and looked in the refrigerators. I called her into the office to ask her again what her plans were. Angie thanked us for the night in the motel, said she loved us. I thought she looked like a child, sipping on her hot chocolate; if she continues on the path she is traveling, in five years she will age fifteen. She never really answered the question.

We told her to come back for the 4:00 meal. She asked if we could call her cell phone and remind her, in case she forgot or got lost. Somehow we never got the number. After eating, Angie got up to leave for the train station, needing help figuring out how to open the umbrella. She didn't come back that afternoon.

Making a List

Each Sunday evening I prepare for the coming week. A part of that process is reviewing a check list of items from a book I read years ago, Creativity in Business by Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers. The list hardly seems appropriate coming from a business book, but I've found the questions to be helpful in centering myself, looking back on what happened in the prior week, and planning for the week ahead. Perhaps these are good questions to consider as we look back on 2008 and prepare for the coming year...

1. Who or what was my teacher?
   
2. What did I learn?
3. What did my Voice of Judgment say?
4. What did I observe?
5. What did I forget?
6. How did I take care of myself?
7. What was my relationship to time?
8. What permission did I give myself regarding emotions?
9. What did I notice about love?
10. What truth did I find?
    

The Problem With Too Much Food

It's hard to believe, but only three months ago our shelves were nearly empty. Part of the problem back then was of our own doing. When other local food pantries get low on food, we tell them to stop by and we load them up with supplies. Sometimes we give away too much and put ourselves in a bind.

There's a balance we strive for... sending food where it's needed, while keeping enough to serve our our clients. As we move on from the holidays, when people are continually donating food, to the winter months where deliveries slow down, we do our best to share the wealth. One of our mantras is "It isn't our food... it belongs to the community."

No Sweat

One of our programs that doesn't get much publicity is being a site for court-ordered community service. We'll take on kids or adults for a variety of reasons: disorderly conduct, drug offenses, DUI, anything except theft.

When they first arrive, they're often reserved, not knowing how they will fit in. But we treat them like regular volunteers (no scarlet letters here). Most of the time, they have a good experience and some even come back to volunteer.

Every so often we're surprised how their time with us makes an impact. Take Nick, for example (not his real name). He's here to put in 20 hours for a DUI charge. He's pretty quiet, but willingly does what we ask of him. At one point in the day we were about to ask him to take out the trash and noticed that he didn't have a jacket. Turns out that he wore a hooded sweatshirt in that day, but he gave it to one of the men who came in to eat that morning. Nick said that the sweatshirt was kind of big on him... fit the other guy better anyway.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised - just because someone did something bad in the past doesn't make them a bad person...

Just Old Enough

Last week the kindergarten class from York Avenue Elementary School trekked to Manna on Main Street. With wagons in tow, they brought canned goods to donate to our food pantry. It's always fun to listen to young children who visit us and watch them respond to sights and smells of a soup kitchen.

I asked them a question: how old do you think you have to be to volunteer at Manna. Hands went up slowly, and they answered very seriously - 44 years old... 46... an adult. I responded with the same serious tone: they had to be at least 5 years old.

Faces brightened and hands shot in the air. "I'm 5" - "I'm 5 too" - "I'm 5". I told them how simple is was to volunteer, to give back to the community. They could carry a plate of food to someone at Manna. They could get someone a drink of water. They could cook something at home with their family and bring it in to serve.

They seemed satisfied with that, that giving back does not have to be complicated. Maybe they will remember to tell their parents.