Serving in the Time of Quarantine
Edit: I wrote this post last week and thought I lost it when my computer went kaput. Today, my computer is fixed and I was able to find it. Small miracles…so, a little is now past-tense but the point is very much in the present.
Love,
John
I haven’t written in a while because most of my work has been happening from behind a computer screen. The stories somehow lack importance when they come to me second hand. You see 3 weeks ago I came down with a fever and a cough and a upset stomach…You know, the flu, right? Or was it? I was advised by doctors to assume I had Covid19 and follow the guidelines for checking in and checking symptoms. This meant a time of isolation and being as homebound as possible. The latest advice was to wait a full week after the symptoms ended…that was ten days ago.
Today I joined the ‘front line’. Today I am so grateful for my friends who have been doing this all along. Today I did my best to add what I could. Pat and Sandy and others have been out serving our friends every. single. day. since the world changed. And while most of the world shut down, the need for food on the street has gone up three fold. We are now easily disbursing 60 lunches every day. Until a few days ago, Sandy and Pat had been largely doing this by themselves. Every. Single. Day.
This week we started asking others to help us and the response has been amazing. We distributed a list of how to make a sack lunch and invited folks who can to make some number and we will come pick it up and distribute them. Today, 5 neighbors offered their time and love and ingredients to make over 70 lunches bagged lunches! A sixth neighbor made a complete Thanksgiving dinner and boxed up turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing in 60 boxes that we picked up right as we began serving. 6 families of all ages
In one hour coffee, hot chocolate, all of the turkey, and most of the sack lunches had gone into hands of people full of gratitude. It was fast paced and happy. People were kind, even, and really really happy to have a warm meal and another one to walk away with. It was so so good for me to be with so many friends I haven’t seen in weeks, even for a moment. It was so so good to hand people food and meet people’s eyes.
But it did not feel good to have to do this. It did not feel good to have a mask and gloves and not be able to hug anybody. It did not feel good to have to encourage people to keep moving and keep away from each other. And it did not feel good to have to load up the truck with garbage bags that had nowhere else to go. It did not feel good to know that we have had to police and the health department authorities called on our work to feed people during this emergency.
Nonetheless, when friends need help, we all step up. You do that with your friends and family too. I invite you to think from your quarantine if there is anything you can offer to those who have less that still feels safe for you and yours. NOBODY should feel compelled to venture towards infection. NOBODY should do more than they can. But I will argue that doing what good you can for others helps all of us feel less alone. Ideas:
—Connect a hose to your a publicly accessible spigot, invite homeless folks to fill their jugs there…drinking water is hard to come by
—Make a few lunches and tell me about it…I’ll pick them up from you and give them to people with your love.
—Collect jeans, pants, sweatshirts from your closets and give them to us to give out.
—Call somebody you know is a little lonely today.
—Donate dollars www.paypal.me/beaconpdx
—Give us your yogurt containers with matching lids.
I promise, it’ll feel good, even amidst all the stuff that feels wrong and rough and hard.