The Food and Care Coalition

I almost forgot to post about this until I watched this video today. This is a song that Ive heard a million times (since I'm a country music listener). But it never hit me like it did today.



The reason it hit me hard today. (hard as in I was bawling lol) Is the part where the homeless man is eating out of the garbage can. It reminded me of something that happened when Jentry and I went to the homeless shelter a few weeks ago.

Scotts mom had set it up for us to go MONTHS ago. Which is awesome that it takes THAT long to get a spot to volunteer. We went with his mom, sisters, nieces and his brother and a couple of his brothers friends. So there was about 11 of us there. They have a new building and its GORGEOUS! Wow, I was taken back by how nice this building was. We went to serve dinner and showed up at about 4pm. We got ready for the people to start showing up at 4:30. Dinner is served until 5:30. We were told instructions about not telling 'these people' our names, schools, or offering them rides.

When they started coming through the line was I very surprised at the variety of people that were coming through. There were the obvious homeless people. But then there were couples that came through that you could just tell they needed a little help. There were some people that were obviously on drugs. (one kid (18 years old maybe???) was higher then a kite). There were some that were probably mentally ill. There was also one lady that I swear didn't look homeless or destitute...but what do I know? But, there were no children. Which I was surprised about and which I was also grateful for. I didn't know how I could have handled seeing a child go through the food line. (Tho, I know they do it every day).


I was grateful to see the meal that they got. A hot bowl of soup, a casserole, a piece of bread, fruit, corn and a dessert. Jentry, Shelbey and I were in charge of dishing up the food. And Shelbey and I totally think the same. We were both trying to give them the biggest helpings we could. (Three hot meals a day are served from here)

But the thing that got to me the most was when we were cleaning up. We were throwing away the casserole tins and one man came in and asked if he could have the garbage so that he could lick the tin foil. I about lost it right there. I thought...how blessed are we?!!! My kids throw food away like it will be there tomorrow. And it most likely will. But what happens when it isnt. It definitely made Jentry think. She is our most picky eater. But, she got to see that these people eat what they are given. They dont complain and they were very grateful. We got "God bless you" from a man about 100 times.

I could go back to that place 100 times over and come back with different experiences, Im sure. I should go more often. It was a great experience and I highly recommend everyone go!