Helping the Homeless

Monday is Homeless Feeding Day at my church. We don't feed homeless people at our church. We just prepare and pack the food there, then send it off to Indianapolis to locate the people who live under bridges and the like.

It all started a few years ago, innocently enough. I think someone from our church was on a committee with members of other churches in the Indy area and heard of their mission to feed the homeless. It wasn't too long before our church took one day a week to do so as part of the larger service to God and man. One guy sort of took charge. Then someone else stepped up. Then my grandchildren's Grandpa Phil took on the chore of actually cooking the food and arranging for (or making) food purchases. Others come to help with the food preparation and to pack sacks for distribution. Still others bring donations of blankets, sweatshirts/pants, blankets, candles, warm socks, hats, gloves, etc. One local business--The Coachman Restaurant--donates the large foam cups with lids that we send the hot food in. Our little mission usurps the church kitchen every Monday from noon to 6:00 PM.

Last year, Grandpa Phil asked if I could come to help from time to time. I had two other Monday commitments, so I usually didn't assist. This year, however, those commitments went away, so I have been helping out in the absence of some of the "snow birds" who go to Florida for the winter. It has been an interesting process.

The supper for the homeless consists of: soup, some form of bread (homemade bread, corn bread, cheddar biscuits, etc.) an applesauce cup, a diced fruit cocktail cup, a pudding cup, and a bottle of water. Sometimes, there are homemade cookies, depending on who brings what. The soup recipe is also determined by donations during the week. Meat has become quite expensive, so many recipes have to be meatless. We do what we can. Today, we packed food for 75 homeless, and another 45 for folks in a local trailer court. (More about that in a bit.)

Here is the process:
1. While the soup is being prepared, sacks are filled with a napkin, a spoon, and the three fruit/pudding cups. Today, we filled 120 such sacks. (It is a little more complicated than that because all of the fruit/pudding cups have to be unpacked from the larger boxes they come in. Takes time! Just opening up a lunch sack takes time!) The sacks are then packed in big plastic tubs.
2. The bread is either baked at church or ahead of time at home. It is then cut and packed in sandwich bags at church. Again, 120.
3. Soup prep requires cutting and chopping and cooking...onions, celery, potatoes, carrots...sometimes meat. Lots of hands needed for all of that!
4. Along about 4:00 PM, the soup is dished up into the foam cups. We then wipe the accidental drips off the side of the cups, put lids on, and pack the cups in big styro tubs and/or coolers. (There is an art to this. Eighteen on the bottom layer and 22 on the top, with a hand-cut piece of cardboard in between. Have to get this just right in order to make it all work!)
5. The drivers arrive to taste-test the soup and pack the vans to go. I haven't actually gone with the van for food distribution, although I intend to, someday. Those who do go, go back over and over again. Helping "the least of these, my brethren" feels good.
6. Kitchen clean-up. Yes, there is always this! There are three very large pots and one smaller pot to clean, plus the various utensils, floor, counter tops, etc. Just because the van and food disappear does NOT mean the job is done!

The homeless feeding in Indianapolis is a given. We KNOW there is need there...but someone alerted the movers-and-shakers of the feeding mission that there are some very needy folks right here in Plainfield at a trailer park. They have homes...sort of...but lack funds to adequately feed themselves. The church took on supplying them with a meal on Mondays, as well. Just today, we were told by the church secretary that there is a single mother at that park who has four children, with another on the way, who has lost her job and has NOTHING with which to feed her children. We packed extra food items for her family, including a gallon of milk. It's only a drop in the bucket, but it will help.

The City of Indianapolis wishes that we "do-gooders" in churches would stop feeding the homeless. Their claim is that we are enabling them to stay homeless by giving them food--kind of like feeding stray animals. (The analogy hurts, but that is the attitude!) The corporate logic is that there are homeless shelters out there for these folks, but many of the homeless don't like the shelters. For one thing, they are not allowed to bring their "stuff" into the shelter. If they leave it all behind for one night's bed and food, their precious few possessions will be stolen while they are there. Also, they are required to be out by 10:00 AM the next day. Sometimes, they have to attend religious services for the privilege of having a place to stay and a hot meal. Granted, many of the homeless folk have serious mental health issues and/or addictions--but not all. Some are simply down on their luck due to loss of job, divorce, or a series of circumstances. They are all God's children, no matter what. I, for one, will not give up trying to help these folks for reasons that are way too personal. There, but for the Grace of God, go we all!

I take ZERO credit for helping in this mission. Many hands make light work. I pack sacks, pack bread, chop vegetables, etc., but it is only a little help in a much larger project. If I didn't assist, someone else would. That's how it is. There are others far more dedicated than I. I look at it this way: if one single person feels better about his/her life because I peeled a carrot that went into the soup that fed him/her, my own life has more meaning.

On another note, a couple of years ago, my grandchildren and their stepsister saved some of their allowance to donate to the "needy"...and gave their year's accumulation to Grandpa Phil for the homeless project--$45. I don't know if they had any clue how far that money would go, but it was a proud moment for the Heffelmans and me. God bless the children, and God bless those who help those less fortunate!