It’s a busy
day for a Tuesday here at Hope House—a sign of the holidays fast approaching. I
have been trying all morning to get a few minutes in front of my computer to
write this blog, and here I am, 2 hours after I planned on doing it! Read on to
see why this blog was important for me to put out there.
On a busy,
standing room only day last week, with the front door staying open to handle
the overflow of people, I came out to get my next client for intake and
discovered it was “Jim”, a familiar face. Jim has advanced Parkinson’s and has
a great amount of difficulty standing, walking and doing most anything, due to
the constant tremors and jerking of his body. As I called his name, I found him
in a chair by the window and after struggling for a minute, he asked me to go
on to someone else while he tried to get his body to work. He often does this,
and is usually able to come in just a few minutes later. Sure enough, 3 clients
later, he waved and indicated he was ready for the struggle. As I helped him to
his feet, several other clients also reached out with assistance and cleared a
path for him.
So I was
already tearing up over this situation, but get this—when I asked him if he had
a walker or something to help him walk, he stated it was outside because he
didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. I immediately shouted to the people on the
porch and the stairs and asked if there was a walker out there. Before the
words were out of my mouth, it was being passed overhead from hand to hand to
Jim. Helping hands, clearing a path, bringing in his walker—our clients (no,
they really are family members for us at Hope House) reached out with kindness
to this elderly and frail man. I love our “family” here at Hope House. Whatever
the dictionary says a family is—we have a new meaning here at Hope House.
You may
think we are giving to our clients, but I can tell you, they give to us as
well!
