Feeding The Homeless

This morning I had a life changing experience.

 

Last evening my cousin gave me some left over quiche that was left over from a local bistro where she works at. When I seen how much there was I right away thought I wish I could deliver this to the homeless in 'Tent City' in Wooster. Never heard much about this local homeless community other then seeing them when traveling State Route 30 to go to Burbank. What made me think of them I have no idea other then the fact that the Lord layed it on my heart.

So it was one of those thoughts that just wouldn't leave me.

Later I couldn't sleep and was browsing our beloved face book and seen my friend Rayonna was on also and just randomly send her a message and asked her "Do you want to go feed the homeless tomorrow morning?"

She instantly said "Yes let's do it!"

She told me later the Lord knew I needed to serve.

So we planned to meet at her downtown business at 10 and make coffee and prep food.

I started prepping a basket and was off to bed but was to excited to sleep much.

When I got up I looked out window and roads looked bad. But decided that's not stopping me. Thought how cold they must be. And off I went.

As I sat and waited for her I was high on the spirit of serving. Feeling a little guilt that I snuck out of the house when everyone was still sleeping but my daughter. Telling her to tell my hubby what I was on a mission I was doing and told her if shes quiet and doesn't wake Daddy I might be back before he even wakes up then I'd tell him of my crazy not thought out deed I was doing.(knowing he'd support me but would put safety first)

Here we are all prayed up on protection and ready to serve:) 

So we heated the quiche that was from Rebecca's Bistro and put them in individual containers.



She got her famous cupcakes ready from her shop called The Faithful Little Cupcake and made coffee.

In the mean time her daughter Erica showed up to be our body guard;)

Have to share some funny thing. Rayonna last night told me now you know you should dress down. So don't come in your fancy clothing. So when we talked on phone this morning she asked "Lena your not in your high heels are you?" I told her the only snow boots I had had a little heal on. But I'm not wearing make up and my hairs a mess and I think I'll pass." It made us both chuckle as we went about our mission.

 

We loaded up my daughters old Buick and we were off.

We were all eager for what we would see. Erica told us where to park and where to go in.

She got out of car and was off down the hill to scope it out for us.

She said I'll go down and see if I can find someone. It was a very steep hill to go down.

 

As we watched from the road. Soon she found Carl and the other guy and they helped us carry our stuff down the hill.

They took us into their kitchen tent. Here he is holding the front door open for us to get in.

It had a wooden picnic table in it. with a little camp stove where they were making coffee. They had such great hospitality. They were much more interested in telling us their stories then the food we brought.

Carl had beautiful bright eyes that shined.  He still had a couple teeth but his friend didn't. We had coffee with them. As they told us some stories. About the experiences they have had. Carl worked at a factory in Wooster for 16 years. Till hard times hit him. He's a recovering alcoholic and he soon had to go to walk up town to fix his flat tire on his bike. We asked questions and we laughed together as Erica but her black suet she got off their kettle on her face like war paint. We asked them if they have a leader in the camp. They told us his name is Roger. I asked is he nice to you? they both looked at each other and hesitated and said "Yeah he is OK."

Soon we heard heavy foot steps on the outside.

Felt bad for this guy. He was cold with no gloves.

As soon as Roger came in the tent he went to gather up some wood in the snow.

They had a dryer cylinder that they had a outdoor fire going by the creek. That was their only heat they had to keep warm.

I asked them if I can take pictures and they said yes.

Even here I noticed the contrasting colors of the blue and yellow. There is beauty in colors even on a homeless tent.

The had kitchen rules.

This was Roger. I'll call him the Tent City Chief.

He gave us a looooonnnnggg story of the history of the Indians owning this land and how they are his heritage. If you can picture this here as soon as he arrived the other two men were outta there, and Roger sat in between us and the front entrance of the tent. Not gonna lie the Sam Mullet thingy crossed my mind once. But knew we were protected between the Lords protection and Erica. Finally in the middle of his history story (you would of thought he was 500 years old). I asked him "Have you ever kept 3 pretty ladies attention for this long before?" We all chuckled and he said he still has to finish his story. I liked Roger but liked him even better once we were in wide open spaces on the outside. Forgot to mention I'm very claustrophobia.

As we looked around at the tents I asked "Now do all these tents have people in them?" And he said yes except for that all that has been torn from the winds over there. That guy left a couple weeks ago and never made it back. He's probably not alive anymore.

As one of the women ended up in hospital the night before so she's gone too.

I asked him so what are your needs. He said "What ever the Lord tells you to bring. Just like he told you to bring this,this morning."

They have a beautiful flag in their camp with a Indian on a horse on it.

 

So as we turned to trek back up the hill, I patted Roger on his back and said I see you need wood. Not realizing till was told later that it wasn't the most appropriate thing to say to a homeless dude. But we got a good laugh out of it later. This is the same hill I had to scoot on my butt to get down with my boots. As we approached it to leave. I thought Oh Lord help me to get back up there without falling. Roger to the rescue, showed us a easier path up. That was the sober path. He told us we came down the drunk path. And where the wood was thrown is we you sometimes just roll down. We all laughed together.

As Roger made his way back down the hill. He had no idea what an impact he made on our life's as we went back home to our families and warm houses.

I didn't write this blog to boast on what we did today. I wrote it for several different reasons. One: I am hoping it inspires you when the Lord nudges you to make a difference to act upon it. Second: Rayonna, Erica and I have all been through some difficult stuff this year that most people don't know about. But soon found out our own struggles are so small in comparison to these people. We were blessed way more then they were.

Third: Count your blessings!

As I came back home cold(left my coat there too) I was never so thankful for our warm house. I felt like I lived in a mansion and felt so selfish for all we had. Hoping this blog makes you feel as blessed as I feel. Pray for the homeless and throw wood down over the bank for them if you want. But just listen to their stories. We all have a story.