Due to some last minute scheduling issues I went downtown this afternoon (on about 3 or 4 hours of sleep). I decided to try to find Louis Parks first when I got off the freeway but made a turn down 7th St to see if I could find shoeless Marie. Well I found her sleeping on the sidewalk. I couldn't park on 7th so I parked around the corner and walked back to her. I took a bag of food and gently awakened her. I called her by name and asked if she'd like to have the food which she accepted. I then asked her if she could use another blanket and she said yes to that too. So I walked back to the car and got some water, a blanket and a couple of warm sweaters and went back to her. She was standing up at this point and had looked through the bag of food. By the way, I only saw one tooth in the front of her mouth. She took the water but ended up declining the blanket and sweaters. I had also brought a bag with three pairs of womens sandals but she refused those also. You can see from the picture she has almost no possessions at all. Perhaps she doesn't want to have to keep tabs on another blanket. Where she sleeps is close to some of the missions on skid row so it's possible everything she doesn't hold on to gets stolen by others. After walking back to the car (somewhat dejectedly) I drove back by her and took a picture of her sitting up on the sidewalk (she was eating some of the food at this point). I got the photo but as I pulled forward and stopped at a signal about 30 feet away a man was standing there at the curb and asked, "Hey, do you have any other stuff you're giving away?" At this point I forgot to save the photo of Marie on my phone so I lost it. I'll try to get one another time but I was able to help Brad there on the corner too.
I drove back up to Alameda and then turned uptown towards First St. I saw Louis on the same back steps of the Office Depot building as last week. I had to drive around a couple of blocks to get back to him and along the way I found Alfredo digging through a dumpster. I had actually driven past him when I realized what he was doing so I drove around the block again to get back to him. By that time he had finished going through the dumpster and was pushing his shopping cart towards me in the street. I was able to quickly pass him some food and water through the window before having to drive on. He remembered me from a couple of weeks ago. I then remembered I had seen him a couple of blocks away near where Marie sleeps going through dumpsters in that area too.
I drove up Alameda to the I-10 and was able to help out Jerry who was just about to cash in his 'take' for the day at the recycler and Lorenzo who was down 16th St near Central. I helped Lorenzo out before a few weeks ago and noticed today that he had on some sandals and was walking somewhat precariously in them. I had a pair of shoes in the trunk and gave them to him.
I offered to give him some new socks to go with the shoes but he said he had some. You never know if the shoes might be a little too big so wearing an extra pair of socks can help the 'fit', but he said he was OK so I didn't insist. Since I was so close to Central I thought I would try to find Mary. The first time I saw Mary was at Christmas and I've seen her a couple of times since then. She was the one holding the "recently homeless" sign back then. I knew she was forced to vacate the street where she had been living and I hadn't found her new location yet. As I was about to drive down an alley off 16th St. to look for her I saw someone sleeping under a blanket under the freeway on 16th. I parked and got out and it just happened to be Mary! I told her I had something special for her today. One of the things I forgot to mention last week was the hygiene bags I've started bringing along on these trips. They were provided to me by my niece and her friends as part of her Girl Scout project. They include a toothbrush and toothpaste along with some wipes and some soap. I just knew Mary would love to have one of these bags and she did.
Mary and I talked for a bit about her new location. It's kind of noisy there but she said it was somewhat safe and she hadn't been bothered yet. I told her it was supposed to rain again on Tuesday night. She is right by the freeway so she can get some protection from the rain when it starts.
At this point I was out of food so I made my way to the westbound freeway on-ramp. Along the way I gave Matthew the last gallon of water I had. He was standing right by the freeway on-ramp at 18th and Main. I was really glad to be able to give everything away today. I got on the freeway and made my way into Whittier. There is a transition house there called First Day that helps people make the transition from the street back into society by providing a place to stay and some job skill training. Tonight they were having a special church service for the residents there. It is an opportunity to talk with people who are going through a difficult time in their life and offer prayer and encouragement. There was a young man who spoke tonight and shared his powerful testimony that had everyone's attention. Afterwards I was able to talk with Monica and John who are residents there. Both are in the process of starting a new life with new hope. Starting over is never an easy thing to do, but where they are tonight is a far better place than that of these people whose story I've shared with you from downtown. In the New Testament, Peter, someone who had some experience in starting over, tells us, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." Can you believe it? We actually have the privilege of administering God's grace to others. Until next week. --John
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