Happy Birthday, Maddy!

“You don’t have very many kids’ shoes, do you?” she says in a matter of fact voice. While she speaks, she is busy organizing and straightening our children’s’ shoe shelf, which is quite amazing considering that she is 5 years old! Madeline (Maddy) is the youngest of our volunteers, working at Hope House on the last Saturday of the month with her mom. She specializes in organizing all items that have to do with children, particularly books and toys, but today her mind is on the children without shoes, and the unfairness of that.

Maddy has already spent an hour or so putting away some books and toys that came in—some that she herself brought from her own collection. She is picky about the condition of the toys, and books, rejecting those that are dirty, broken or written in. She carefully checks a miniature Etch a Sketch several times, verifying with her mom that it really does still work before she will put it on the shelf. As I sit doing paperwork, she tests little cars and windup toys on the desk to make sure all is well with them. She chats about who will get the toys, whether they will like the color or the character.

But back to the shoes…..Maddy is somewhat distressed about them, so when she has her 6th birthday party in July, she is going to ask her friends to bring shoes for kids instead of gifts for her. At the ripe old age of 5, Maddy already has a wonderful working knowledge of the importance of helping the less fortunate. Thanks to her mom, it is now a given in her life to help others, and I guarantee you, she will always remember Saturdays at Hope House with her mother.

Madeline has already learned the value of a gift given and a gift received. Happy Birthday Madeline!

Angels among us.

A few days ago, one of our long-time clients came in with a huge problem. His belongings were in a storage locker and he owed over $900 to the storage facility. At this point, they were in the process of getting ready to sell his stuff out from under him, and he was frantically trying to find financial help to keep them. He came in knowing Hope House does not offer financial assistance, but hoping that we might call the storage facility and put in a good word for him. Since I have known this client for several years, I called the manager of the facility to see if anything could be done about putting the whole sale on hold. She assured me she had worked with him as far as she could, and that day was his last chance to pay. Vincent thanked us for our efforts and left.

So today, who should walk in the door with a smile on his face but Vincent! He said good came out of that bad day last week, and he would share it with me in the intake interview. When it was his turn to be interviewed, he proceeded to tell the wonder that was his reality last week. The day the storage crisis was happening, when he left Hope House, he boarded a bus for home. While on the bus, he was telling an acquaintance about his troubles, thinking he had lost his belongings. However, a gentleman on the bus asked him to get off at the next stop with him. This gentleman proceeded to take him to the bank and write him a check for $500 to give the storage facility. The unknown angel’s reasoning? He and his late wife always felt that since you can’t take it with you, you should use it for the greater good.

Never doubt that angels walk among us!

Listening......

As most people know, receiving from others can be difficult, particularly for men. The younger they are, the harder it is! So one rainy morning, as I looked across my desk at a young man who was obviously uncomfortable and slightly humiliated at being here asking for help, I tried to remember just how much this meant to him. His clothing was worn, his shoes looked almost gone, and, to be frank, he just looked disheveled and messy. His attitude wasn’t much better. He spoke softly, looking down for the most part, only raising his head once in awhile to give me a defiant look, as if he was daring me to pass judgment.

His story was not unfamiliar to me; I actually hear it all the time. He was recently out of rehab and living in a clean and sober house, trying to get his life back on track. Clean, fitting clothing and personal hygiene items go a long way in helping people feel like they have a chance at a fresh start, so I am always particularly thrilled to offer those just out of rehab or even just out of jail or prison the chance to take a breath and feel better about themselves.

So I didn’t take it personally when he was short with his answers to my questions. What made his story so much more interesting was the small question he asked quietly at the end of his interview—“I have my little boy with me some weekends, can I get something for him as well?” he asked. Of course, my answer was sure and the addition of his son to his intake form—after all, he was his family, right? This response provided me with a direct look bordering on friendly. At this point, that still, small voice in my head—yes, it is the Holy Spirit!—nudged my brain into action.

“Do you see your son every weekend?” I asked him, and he replied that it was every other weekend. At that point I asked him if he would like a brand new toy to take and give to his son on their next visit. Now, this is the reason the Holy Spirit talks to me (besides the fact that I try to listen!)—this somber and somewhat sullen young man suddenly let loose with a smile that lit up the room, followed by tears that someone would think to offer this chance to him.

At Hope House, we often have leftover brand new toys after Christmas, and this year, Toys for Tots was kind enough to donate many of their leftover new toys to us. During the year, we use these new toys for our clients to give to their children when they have a birthday coming up and the parents have no money for gifts. Another example of the generosity of our donors touching the lives of our clients. Giving and receiving are two points on the same continuum—and sometimes they are closer than you think!

The Multiplication of Corn and Tuna

When volunteers showed up at Hope House on Good Friday, the first thing they noticed was that the food shelf was almost empty. When they went out to the shed to bring in some supplies to refill the shelf, they found that the food stores in the shed were almost gone, too.

Hope House provides food on days when the Bellingham Food Bank is not open, or when a client does not have a Bellingham address (because non-Bellingham addresses cannot be served at the food bank). Friday evenings are big food days because it's the last chance many clients have to get food until Monday. Fridays can always expect a heavy draw on the food shelf. With the food stores as low as they were, volunteers wondered how much food would be left for next week.

Volunteers started the coffee and got ready to open. Hope House opens at 4 pm on Fridays and at 4:08 a woman in a mini-van drove up and started unloading bags of food. She had just started when another community-member parked her truck behind Hope House and started bringing in boxes of food. These donations more than filled the food shelves.

As the evening went on, many clients requested food, and the food flew off the shelves, but more donations continued to arrive. By closing time, not only were the food shelves abundantly full, volunteers were taking food out to the shed for storage.

This sort of thing seems to happen a lot at Hope House. While cans of creamed corn and tuna aren't exactly loaves and fishes, the rules still seem to be the same: give what you have and trust God to make it enough. God provides abundance; Hope House operates by trusting in God's abundance.