This is a magical time of year at Hope House. Smiling faces, Christmas
decorations, carols playing, lots and lots of wonderful donations coming in…….busy,
crazy hectic, but warm and wonderful all at once! A few things:
As I sit here in my office, I hear one client say to another “what
are truffles?” Yes, this is amusing, downright funny, to hear in this shabby
old house full of used clothing and housewares. But the truth is that we had
our wonderful Human Food Chain yesterday and we are flush with all kinds of food—including,
apparently, chocolate truffles on our food shelf! The staff, parents and
students of Assumption School gather canned food each year during November and
on the Monday morning before Thanksgiving, form a human chain from the church
to the shed where we store food behind Hope House. It is an awesome sight and
leaves a lump in my throat every year—bright shining faces, often braving the
rain and wind, spend an hour passing food hand to hand for those in need. We give
Thanks for them!
Godshots—we have had them from the first day of being open 16
years ago, but lately we seem to be having them very frequently. A Godshot is a
direct, divine intervention and/or answer to a need or prayer we have. Two
weeks ago, we needed size 5 diapers for a client who was desperately in need
and we were out. Just as I said we don’t have any, a donor came in the back
door with a case of them. Godshot. Last week before we opened one morning, a
volunteer and I were discussing how seldom we receive pillows for a donation
when we get requests for them all the time. Literally, we very rarely receive
pillows to distribute. This volunteer went to morning mass and came back after
with two brand new pillows, still in their plastic, that had been left in our
box at the church! Godshot. This happens so often that I could fill a book
(maybe I will)—so often that one day years ago, I was standing in front of the
small bookcase we have children’s books in, musing that we were low on books. The
volunteer standing next to me silently slid sideways away from me. When I asked
what she was doing, she said “any day now He will just start throwing them down
to you!” The power of Godshots.
The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are busy; we are
collecting gifts for our clients and distributing food, decorations and
clothing at a crazy pace. Because of the need for space to store all the gifts
being collected until our distribution date, we will be limiting donations
after Thanksgiving to new items of clothing (socks and gloves are high priority!),
new toys and gift items for all ages, food and Christmas decorations. We will continue
collecting used clothing and housewares after the first of the year. Thank you
for your understanding!
“He is the image of the
invisible God, the first born of all creation”—may we be His hands on earth and
the visible face of Him who loves us all!
