Do you ever wonder how you can help the growing homeless population in your town? I hear people talk about the problems with the world, with little clarity about what they can do to help.
There are times in our lives when finances are tight and we can’t afford to help others. During those times in my life, I’ve meditated, sending out love to the world and thoughts of peace on earth. This is something anyone can do. If you’d like to meditate, yet struggle with it, try going to your search engine and putting in: UCLA marc. Free guided meditations will come up. Try them!
When our financial situation improves, there are other things we can do. I’d love to hear your ideas of things you have done to help the world, the homeless population, the mentally ill, the disabled, and those less fortunate than we are.
Before my son died, nearly three years ago, I used to go cook for the homeless. I would pack up my camp stove, my family and food, and we would hang out under the Jefferson street bridge between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would take tortillas, beans, cheese, home-made salsa, and coffee and offer food and hot coffee to the homeless population. It was rewarding to be able to do something, however small, to ease their suffering.
Until recently, my own suffering made it impossible for me to face that kind of need outside my work hours. More recently, however, I’ve found myself reaching out again to help. It could be very small, like offering my returnable bottles to a homeless person, or offering a warm hat to someone on the street. For the last few months, I have found homeless men regularly camping near the market I shop at, so I’ve begun bringing them food when I’m done shopping.
I’ve struck up a conversation with one gentleman who is there regularly and he gave me an idea. He told me a story about once getting a sandwich at the White Bird Clinic, in Eugene, Oregon. Apparently, it wasn’t a regular service, but a donation from a concerned citizen. So, I went home last night and cooked up a huge pot of grains (like rice) with beans and home-made tomatillo salsa and I took that down to White Bird Clinic. I left it there with more salsa, plates, napkins and spoons. I dropped by after lunch to pick up my empty pot and canning jar.
I share this with you as an offering of an idea. Do you have time sometimes to drop food off at your local service station for the homeless? Do you live in a country where this isn’t a problem? If so, your government is clearly handling things better than ours is.
Or take it as a challenge! One-up me!
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