Random Acts of Love

For everyone of us that succeeds, its because there's somebody out there to show you the way out ~ Oprah Winfrey

In Ashland every Wednesday under a tree in Lithia Park, you will find three very large boxes filled with random items. Everything from diapers to toothbrushes; shampoo to clothing; phone cards and food. These have been left for the homeless. They know it's there. If they need something they can take it. If they have something to leave behind they do. They are never greedy and like the Buddhists who left the boxes behind they share with love.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. ~ Martin Luther King

49er truck stop in Sacramento, California offers sanctuary to the homeless every night. There are no beds, but there is hot food and a place out of the cold or heat.

Let everyone regulate his conduct by the golden rule of doing to others as in similar circumstances we would have them do to us and the path of duty will be clear before him ~ William Wilberforce

A little second grade boy runs in slow motion so the little girl with Downs Syndrome can 'tag' him during recess.

I am the conscience of all those who knew something, but did nothing ~ Oskar Schindler

A teenager gives his brand new Christmas coat to the homeless person and doesn't stick around long enough to hear the words 'thank you.'

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry

For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone

~Audrey Hepburn~

An elderly couple leaves behind a $100 tip for their harried waitress. Their bill came to $1.49

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented ~ Elie Wiesel

A homeless man puts down his sign asking for help, to offer it to a woman with a stalled vehicle.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?" ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

A six year old gives up her favorite 'Hello Kitty' lunchbox to the homeless man because his sign says he hasn't eaten in days.

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. the hard part is doing it. ~ General H. Norman Schwarzkopf ~

Manna from heaven continues to come to us daily from unknown angels who offer random acts of love:

In Tacoma, the homeless pooled their pennies nickels and dimes together and proudly presented us with a gift of $37.00. They were thankful for what we are doing. We were thankful for this act of kindness and generosity that come from those who have nothing to begin with.

In every town we have passed through the YMCA's have offered us free showers instead of charging the traditional $2.00 per person. They we honored that we came to them. We were honored by their simple act of kindness.

In Olympia the mechanic repaired our broken van for much less than he could have because he believed in what we are doing.

In Grants Pass the manager at Denny's made sure we were well taken care of by personally serving us. He has never charged us for our final meal. He believed in what we are doing.

In Portland we were given a standing ovation from more than 100 homeless men and were honored when they and 47 homeless women joined us in our walk through my hometown.

In Redding, someone gave us a small coin purse. It was filled with $30.00 in golden dollars. I carry that small purse everywhere.

Two days ago we were given an envelope in Sacramento and told it held a bit of gas money. Inside was a $100 bill.

We pay $59.99 per month for our wireless Internet service to be able to blog. We weren't told that there was a 5 gigabyte limit to how much we can use that service and our bill had an unexpected $57.63 charge we can't afford.

I spoke to a supervisor named Angie to tell her what we were doing and explained that we couldn't afford this charge each month. How much would it cost to upgrade to 10 gigabytes. $250 per month. I thanked her and told her it was something we couldn't do, we would just have to watch our usage. She asked if I could hold on for a moment. She came back 11 minutes later with an incredible surprise.

Unlimited usage is not something Sprint provides but because we are trying to make difference, they are giving us just that. The supervisors supervisor was able to override the system and now we are receiving unlimited usage which if offered to the public would be at over $500 per month.

Manna from heaven comes in random acts of love every day.

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies and became the ransom for the world. It was a perfect act. ~ Gandhi~

What will your random act of love be today?

www.change-for-life.org

A Most Excellent Adventure

This has been one of the most amazing week I have had in years. We met with a bit of hostility in Seattle our first day. Skepticism our second day. By the third day however, we had our socks knocked off.

Thursday, we took a tour of the temporary location of the Noel House which I wrote about the other day. Even as an interim setting it was evident a lot of care and planning went into it. Housing first is a concept that this writer feels should be in place everywhere, and frankly I am thrilled it is in place here.

Friday, we were interviewed by King5 TV and the camera man was just as nice as can be. Gary, you were great and made this first time TV interview and awesome experience. Next came Cydney an incredible reporter for the award winning newspaper RealChange. The woman does not believe in tape recorders, so she typed word for word and never skipped a beat. But that's not why she was incredible. She totally understood what we were trying to achieve with this walk and her article is going to exude necessity for community action. Thank you Cydney.

Yesterday, our minds were blown away, first by a personal tour of Tacoma's rescue missions and food banks by one of Tacoma's city officials troy and his nephew Trenton. This man and his nephew, were friendly, informative and didn't even huff or puff at the top of Tacoma's 75 degree angled hills! There was so much incredible information that he promised to send it to me so I can write about it in a day or two. With a 77% decrease in the homeless population, Tacoma is definitely doing something right and we could definitely learn from them.

If that wasn't exciting enough, we had the wonderful experience at the family transitional housing center ran by the magnificent Linda. To top that all off, these marvelous residents gave us gifts. Bill entertained us all evening of stories from the streets that were uplifting and hope filled. Clyde shyly presented me with a Hawaiian traveling lucky charm, which I will proudly wear each day of our trip and last but not least Robert, gave Linda his last 50 cents to give to me. He too was a bit shy, but when Linda told me who it was from and that it was the last of his money, I tried to give it back. His shyness miraculously disappeared when he looked me in the eye and said "I won't take it back. I've been homeless too long and know what it feels like to need the help, so you'll take it." As word got around the center of what we were doing, before we left we were given an envelope filled with their hard earned nickels and dimes. I can not tell you how touched I was that these people who have nothing to speak of to their name took up a collection for us!

Today, as if we weren't blessed enough, we were privileged to serve breakfast to over 100 people at the community breakfast hosted at Tacoma's Urban Grace the Downtown Church. Willie, who has been overseer of these meals since they began in 1995, showed us the ropes and gave us a bit of history behind the meals and the people they serve.

Most are homeless, or very low income families and being served meals such as as scrambled egg with sausage, freshly buttered grits and toast with jam, orange juice and coffee is uplifting and gives all including the servers a sense of community. The guests come from all walks of life and some of whom we met today were former teachers, carpenters, housewives and at the end of the meal we were even blessed by a pianist whose music brought tears to my eyes.

Then there was Sugar Ray who has been a member of Urban Grace since 1923 was given the nickname because of his weekly sugaring of the buttered grits. He does this with smiles for everyone and energy that would make him a prime candidate to run the Tacoma marathon which began this morning from the front doors of the church.

Pastor Tad Monroe has such a heart for the down on their luck that although the seats in the sanctuary were not filled with more than 100 people, it was surely spirit filled for this man has been blessed with the gift of compassion that comes through loud and clear not only in his words but in his actions as well.

It is these organizations that I am fighting for. The ones who make a huge difference in their community because they care. The ones who don't judge; who accept people just as they are and although struggling themselves and desperately needing donations, they keep on going. Please, help these, and others like them, who help others unconditionally and make the world a better place, beginning in your own back yard.