Twas the Night before Thanksgiving

I spent a couple of hours at the Austin Street Shelter last night.  The Shelter is one of several organizations providing an evening meal and a cot for the night for the homeless of Dallas and tonier suburbs in the area. 

I was there, along with my wife, daughter, son-in-law, and three grandsons, as part of a contingent from my church providing dinner (food and servers) on Thanksgiving eve to the men, woman and kids who eat and sleep in the Shelter each evening.  Last night we served turkey, dressing, mashed and sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings to 400 folks.

It was a good experience for me.  There were all sorts of folks from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of stories.  Mothers and wives escaping abusive marriages.  Men in their twenties and women in their sixties who'd lost jobs, marriages, hope.  The ill and the healthy.  Those who had messed up their lives with drugs or alcohol or crime and those who were victims of circumstances beyond their control. Families and individuals.  The fuzzy mentally ill and the scared sane.  All God's children together.

I was impressed how each person managed to maintain their personal dignity in a dire place - I doubt I would be as stoic or thankful as these folks were for a few slices of turkey, potatoes, and stuffing.  And as much as the diners were thankful for their meal, it seemed that their being addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am", being asked if they would prefer one or two slices of turkey, was emotionally nourishing to folks who are often invisible, disregarded, or "done to" if not "for."

I have no idea what to do about cyclical poverty...I used to believe I knew but living awhile has convinced me of my ignorance.  I do believe that no one "solution" will render the shelters obsolete, or that feeding the poor will suddenly become a thing of the past.  Too many poor, too many reasons for poverty, too many exceptions that make easy, fast resolution of poverty improbable if not impossible.

But I do believe that on a micro-level small individual improvements are possible.  Seeing the impoverished helps.  Serving others with dignity helps.  Supporting shelters and speaking on behalf of hose who use the shelters helps.  Advocating training, retraining, and subsidies to underwrite new employment and reduction of underemployment of the working poor helps.  Giving an individual the dignity of work rather than a handout helps.

Many of us are one paycheck, one illness, one divorce, one economic downturn away from the Austin Street Shelter.  Let's give thanks that this year we weren't being served ta the Shelter thisyear...shall we take the small, individual steps so fewer folks will be getting their turkey and dressing at the Shelter this time next year?  So it's less likely we may be in those lines as well?