| | You see them nearly every day. They were likely born to families with homes and I'm sure nearly all of them went to school growing up. Some of them had great jobs, and families. They never drempt of being homeless when they grew up, but they are.
Wednesday night I went and saw a musical with N and her sister and nephew. It was late when I drove back to EPA, but I needed to get gas anyway. At 1:45am I pulled into the gas station on the corner of University and Donohoe. I made sure to make eye contact with the clerk, and then I began pumping gas in the well lit lot. I am a cautious person. I had locked my doors, and only had my check card out. A man came up to the hood of my car and asked to wash my windows. I told him I didn't have any cash, and he said that was okay, he'd wash them for me anyway. We got to talking, and he told me his name was Wally. He had lost his job, and had a few thousand in savings. He thought it would last him a long time, but it didn't. Instead it only lasted 9 months and he's been homeless for about a year now. I bid him goodbye, but I couldn't stop thinking about him.
Today I got out that homeless care package I had made, and I took out a grocery bag and filled it with bottled water, some rice cakes, graham crackers, cans of salmon, wet wipes, dried fruit, some bananas, a couple of Mangos, a note pad and a couple of pens. I went over to the gas station and sure enough, he was there washing windows. I called him over, and told him I had a couple of things for him. He told me that from now on, he's doing my windows for free. :) He also said that he does yard work and that he used to paint houses professionally.
I would love to do more for this community, and maybe Wally is a person (and place) to start with. I put up an add on freecycle.org for warm clothing and hygene products. Maybe we can get enough together to do something with for these people. I plan on taking Wally a couple of pieces of fruit or maybe a sandwich or something every time I get gas. It isn't much for us, the "working class", to do for others, considering we can always buy food when we're hungry.
Just a thought. If you'd like to help, let's chat about it.
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| | Posted 9/22/2008 5:51 PM - 39 Views - 0 eProps - 1 Comment
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