DON’T BE WHAT’S EXPECTED We were having a rough day in the food bank. The room was too hot, there were trays of food everywhere, there were willing volunteers with not enough experience, there was too much to do and tempers were getting frayed. I happened to be walking past the church foyer when I saw a woman leaving with several bags of food. I had welcomed her in earlier so I knew she was a legitimate claimant, not just someone helping themselves. I offered to help her carry the bags. She let me, somewhat embarrassed. As we walked the short distance to her car I got the feeling that something wasn’t right. “Is everything okay?” I asked. “With the food, I mean.” She shook her head. She explained that the women’s refuge had sent her to us. I saw a child-seat in the back of her car – a nice car – and I guessed that her life had, fairly recently, been turned upside down. “It’s not what I expected,” she said firmly. “Not enough?” She looked up at me and I could see the effort it cost her to speak. “I never expected to find myself here. It’s embarrassing … you know?” I talked about the expectation people have of food banks – and how the reality is nothing like that; how people of all sorts from all backgrounds were finding themselves in need and being helped. She nodded at the bags. “It’s more than enough. I never expected this. How am I ever going to pay it back? And the people were … nice to me!” I told her not to worry about paying it back. When her life was on the up again she could help someone else in return. I told her were glad to be able to help. “What do I say to you,” she asked, “the next time I see you?” It was as if she felt she would never fit in decent company again. I grinned. “You say, Hi, David. How you doing?” I squeezed her arm and wished her God Bless. As I walked back to the church I stopped for a moment to compose myself. Back up in the stifling, untidy store room where the food parcels were made up I told everyone what had just happened. There were smiles, silent shakes of the head, a few awwwws, and things were better from there on in. That woman turned out to be a blessing on our day. It’s all too easy to forget why we do these things. When we get caught up in frustration, tiredness, paperwork, and the rest, whether we help in a food bank or any other church run outreach, we need to remember why we got involved in the first place. Above and beyond all the practical good we do through programs like this I’d like to suggest that the best thing we do is remind people, like my new friend, that they are still loved in this world.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 06:33:01 +0000