Last year, about this time, I was getting ready for my first real experience interacting with the folks on the East Side. I was preparing to give care packages to needy people on a rainy day in December. I was ignorant (slightly) and ambitious (overly).
Along with Paul, we made 35 care packages. Each contained a hearty sandwich, an orange, some cookies, a granola bar, and a heartfelt message (like: "you matter").
We trudged down to the East Side on an overcast December day, with beaming smiles and light in our hearts. We had 35 packages! We thought, with naivete, that we might just nix this homeless thing altogether.
What we realized, once we gave out the packages, that the need for nourishment is devastating here, just 5 kilometers from my cozy Kitsilano home. The packages went like wild fire. We hadn't even covered one block. And the demand was far great than 35.
There were thousands of people on the street - down on their luck and on their confidence, doing drugs, prostituting themselves, and feeling hopeless.
Although we felt glad for having helped 35 have a good meal, we also couldn't shake the feeling that we needed to do more.
So in June we added to our care package-making team. Our friend CJ joined in. We compiled as much money as we could, and were able to double our care packages, this time all of them including juice too!
Again, a trip of the East Side say our 70 packages disappear in 3 minutes flat. And we had to turn away a crowd of hundreds when our bags were empty. Again, equal parts exhilarating and devastating.
So then this year came along.
And so did "hard economic times" as headlines in the local news.
I thought: I'm going to need more help.
So I sent out an email to local friends and colleagues, asking them to please spare anything they could: A box of granola bars, a flat of canned juice, a loaf of bread, $10, whatever they had to give. I thought, if all of this adds up, maybe we can make 100 care packages this year!
And then, the unexpected happened.
The next morning, when I powered up my computer, the din of my email inbox was like automatic gunfire. Ding ding ding ding ding ding. New mail. new mail. new mail.
The random kindness of the human spirit was shining through.
I had over 30 emails all with the same message: "I'd like to help."
As of today, I have $550 in cash donations (that's going to buy a LOT of bread, meat, cheese, veggies, etc.)
I have a living room full of non-parishable donations: 80 granola bars, 50 fruit boxes, 200 packs of gum, 48 home-baked brownies wrapped with ribbons, 40 tuna sandwiches, etc.
It is overwhelming!!!
So the Great 2008 Sandwich Make is off to a wonderful start!
We will be making the sandwiches and care packages on the 26th and delivering them that afternoon.
It is going to be a great year!
Thank you to everyone who has donated!!!
