It was an awesome experience, and a humbling one. One of the workers there was homeless himself. He and his wife both work there. They live in a 12' x 24' tent. He was joking with us about how quickly he can clean up his house because it's so small. He had very few teeth, messy hair, and ragged clothes on the outside; and a huge heart on the inside. We affectionately referred to him as "Cap'n Jack." He was helping us move from job to job. We did everything from cutting up vegetables to skinning remnants of onions from restaurants and other suppliers, sorting through bunches of bananas to pick out the ones that were the least soft and brown, and sorting through boxes of breads, pastries, and pies.
While we were outside (in the snow) going through the scraps of onion skins to salvage whatever good onion pieces were left inside, our hands were freezing -- I got to the point where I couldn't feel my fingers. And right there on the other side of the fence (outside the property of The Soup Kitchen) were a whole bunch of homeless people trying to stay warm waiting for a bite of food. It was definitely a lesson in appreciation for the simple things - heat, food, clothes.
I'm going to try to set up a time to take Rylan. It would be a good thing for him to see, too. It felt great to help!
Neat experience!
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