This morning, the whole staff got to work at Charlie's Place. Charlie's Place serves breakfast to homeless men and woman every Tuesday through Friday morning. Our commitment to serve at Charlie's came with a subsequent commitment that everyone would be out the door and starting our day by 5:30 am. Happy Tuesday! :)
Charlie's is great because they also provide up to 3 articles of clothing to the people attending breakfast. Once everyone is settled down, the men and women attending the breakfast can form a line, and systematically provide their name. As they give their name, they can request 3 articles of clothing. A volunteer will write their name on a small white sheet of paper (just like in the picture), along with their 3 requests. The requests are then passed on to more volunteers, who go to a separate room in the building with donated clothes. There, they search to meet the requests. After they have as many matches as they can muster, they bring the clothing down to the breakfast room and personally hand them to the man, or woman who requested the clothing.
My job today was to take the white sheets of paper and try and meet as many requests as possible. The picture is a couple of the requests that I received. If you're can't read them, together they are: 4 T-Shirts, 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of underwear, 1 backpack, 2 hoodies and 1 pair of pants.
During this time, I made three observations that struck me hard:
1.) Not every attending the breakfast asked for clothes. This world is so different than the world that I have been raised in. At home, it is so common to always want new clothes...whether you need them or not. At Charlie's place, it was only the adults who TRULY needed clothes that requested them. And even of those select few, they didn't all request 3 items. They still only requested what they truly needed. Some only asked for 2 articles...or even one. That mindset, which is regular in Charlie's Place is foreign to me.
2.) In my world, when your requests aren't met...it is common to respond with irritation and anger. In clothing stores (Banana Republic is the example from my title-nothing against the store), if a store does not have the clothing you request, it is somewhat regular to be frustrated that you didn't receive what you asked for. However, with everyone this morning, when I was unable to meet their needs because we didn't have the resources, there was never anger. There was instead only gratitude for my efforts. The first time it happened, I didn't know how to respond because I was so shocked by thanks, when I had expected what I thought would have been justifiable frustration.
3.) Because I got positive responses for my efforts, instead of negative responses for my lack of ability to meet needs, I noticed a change in my attitude. The gratefulness that I received for providing someone with a pair of socks, that was donated from an anonymous source encouraged me to try harder. I was more eager to meet these people's needs. They were asking for such simple items with the most grateful attitudes, and it was hard for me to grasp that.
Reflecting on it has only made me appreciate my experience even more. Who would have known I would have learned so much in such an early morning?
No comments:
Post a Comment