Thank you to all who came and helped this month! With our 40 generous volunteers, we were able to serve 172 people! Also, we had 4,142 items donated since our last giveaway, a new record! Thank you for all of your generous donations!
There are still many people in need of your help – with the cold holiday season upon us, many people are still in need of warmth. Here’s how you can help: support our annual Warmth Drive (now through Feb. 2016) by donating your new and used coats, hats, gloves, etc!
Thank you again to all who participated! See you in 2016!
You Are Welcome
by Timothy Flanagan
With the holidays upon us, sometimes you hear people speaking about the “true” meaning of it, such as the popular “put Christ back in Christmas.” And people can become quite passionate about their beliefs or dogmas. Reflecting upon this, I thought I might share my own views, why we do what we do.
Once a month, I bring coffee to serve people whom I have never met. The circumstances of their lives have left them in need, and they have come to those offering help. Some are openly grateful for what they are given. Others, less so. But whether they are grateful to me or not, it does not matter – because I am not doing it for gratification, I am doing it for them. Because they have a need, and we can supply it: not because we are Atheist (or Christian, or anything else), but because we care. Not for an agenda, but to serve someone in less fortunate circumstances, because they are a “kindred spirit” – a fellow human being.
When I hand to them a fresh cup of coffee, often I receive a smile and a “thank you” – to which I respond with a “you are welcome.” But I mean it as more than a polite expression: you are welcome. To our society. To our world. We welcome you here, even if others have cast you out before. We are fellow travelers in this cosmos, and you have dignity and worth no less than our own. That is why we do what we do.
You. Are. Welcome.