I LOVE my job! I know I say this a lot, but it always bears
repeating and the main reason I love this job is that God is my partner here
every single day. Today a man living in his RV at a local RV park came in
needing only two main things: a lamp to read by at night and a small radio to
block out other campers noise while he tried to sleep. As I flinched, thinking
that we seldom have these items and not for very long if we do get them, I hoped
we could find something else he might need to make up for it. So imagine my
surprise when I took him back to the household area and we discovered a
gooseneck lamp and a small radio on the shelf! That’s a God Shot if I ever saw
one, and I see them quite frequently here at Hope House. That man left feeling
very satisfied with his day!
Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a caregiver type
person. In my previous life (before Hope House) I was a nurse, because I love
to take care of people. My job here provides numerous opportunities to reach
out with more than just tangible items; often the chance to chat, brainstorm or
just listen to my clients is so fulfilling. It helps to have racks full of
resource material, colleagues in various agencies around town and our very own
Theresa Meurs (Hope House volunteer, and now a housing specialist for the
Opportunity Council) on call. One of our clients who is a very special concern
to me and now to Theresa as well, is a homeless 55 year old with mental health issues who seems fragile and lost. We are working quite diligently to get him
in housing, hopefully supportive. I spent 20 minutes today listening to him
talk about his younger life and his dreams and ambitions to be an architect.
It was a day for talking—everyone had a need to share or have
someone hear their story. One of the early clients was a homeless man whose
identification had been stolen (a common disaster!), who wasn’t sure how to go
about getting a new one. Assumption Financial Assistance was able to help him
with that. Another woman needed to vent about her problems with the government
of Canada and her veteran’s status and the help the VA was getting for her.
In amongst all of this were the children, everything from a
newborn to a 6 year old coloring one of our coloring pages. We handed out fruit
snacks, crayons and hugs with abandon! Precious little faces and grins…..
I’ll say it again—I have the best job in the world.
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