This weekend I completed another of my 101 Things in 1001 Days. I volunteered at a soup kitchen. I thought this one might be really hard since I couldn’t find any info about a local place to volunteer. Turns out that area churches have a schedule where they take one night a week and make a meal. The SO’s church does Sunday nights. (Yes, I’m dating a church-going Christian. Yes, that was on my list of absolute no-nos. I’m filing this under the heading of “nobody’s perfect” and moving on.)
I’d done a lot of serving at homeless shelters in TN. It was a big operation. It was like a cafeteria. It wasn’t like that at all here. It was much smaller. They made up the plates of pasta, salad, and bread ahead of time and then just added whatever sauce the people preferred. The servers here were a bit odd. They didn’t seem to want to interact with the people they were serving. They would whisper about the people coming through the line, especially in the cases where they knew the families of the people. It didn’t seem very nice. The SO and I went out and ate with the group with everyone else seemed to barricade themselves in the kitchen. Odd.
christian matchmaking
Being Christian and single, I’ve been finding it hard to meet someone with similar views.
Good for you for volunteering! I am sure that the people reciving the meal appreciated the fact that you went down to eat with them. I am sorry that the other people who were helping missed out on a cool opportunity to meet new people.
Now and see….. I think that the behavior of most of the church people is what gives some (many?) folks the impression that Christians can be stuck up and rude if you’re not “one of them”….. And to be honest, their behavior is considerably less “Christian” than it should be. Gossip…. Yeah… That’s a “no-no”. So is treating the poor, widowed or orphaned with distain when Jesus gave the command to take care of these folks as though they were “our” own family. To stand there snubbing them, even while feeding them, and gossiping about them & their families all the while…. Well, that’s certainly not GOOD Christian behavior.
Glad you & the SO went and sat with the folks who came in for food. I’m sure those folks will remember that respect & courtesy. From what I’ve read, and what I’ve seen…. Respectful treatment is one thing a homeless (poor, widowed or orphaned) person wants at least as much as food. And I’ve quite honestly found some homeless folks to be some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. (One guy in particular that I “know” right now is a regular at the library I work in. He’s homeless by choice, but he’s a vast well of information and experience and he’s a bit of a flirt in a nice way. Wish it weren’t over-stepping my bounds to invite him out to my place for dinner with my fam. I think he’d be a great older friend.)