Help for the Homeless

Yesterday, I served lunch at a homeless shelter here in Wilmington. It was my first time at this particular kitchen, so I was excited to participate. We handed out plates of ziti, green beans, peaches, and cake for about an hour. Never one to miss a chance to observe some the social and political aspects of a situation, I made a few observations during that hour:

1) Out of over 100 people who took advantage of a hot meal on a chilly afternoon, only 15-20% looked like they really had no other option than to come to this kitchen for sustenance (one girl actually arrived snacking out of an extra-large McDonald's fries carton).

2) Regardless of race or nationality, everyone sat together, talked and there were no incidents. At one table, a group of hard luck white people sat with a number of blacks and chatted it up. You may not find this significant, but add the detail that one of the most verbose of the white guys was covered in Nazi tatoos and wore a Confederate flag t-shirt, and this makes for a more surprising situation.

3) A couple years ago after spending two weeks amongst the shocking poverty of the Philippines (Manila in particular), I remember walking down the street in Chicago behind two women who were making the observation that (exact quote), "It's worse for poor people in this country than anywhere in the world." Yesterday, without exception, every attendee was amply dressed for the cold, including coveralls, large down jackets, hats, sweaters, blue jeans, etc. A number of the patrons had cell phones. One even described in great detail having attended the Sixers/Spurs game the night before in Philly. In terms of squalor, the poor people of the Philippines have nothing on these guys!

4) The majority of those eating at the shelter who looked like needed the service appeared to have substance abuse problems.

I will be back to this shelter several more times this year to serve the needy. Helping those who have little or no other recourse is a great joy. I have no sympathy for the shameless people who are there gaming the system, however, and getting a hearty, free lunch at the expense of donors of food, time, and money earmarked for the genuinely poor.