#2

Sunday, February 28, 2010

The corner of Lee Street and Ralph David Abernathy, West End Mall, 10:45 am.

I had anticipated there would be someone on the exit off I-20, but there wasn't and I admit I was a tad disappointed. We were on our way to church and so everyone was in the car and I thought it would be a good opportunity for everyone to share in the experience.

As we drove along Lee Street, I noticed a tall middle-aged black man in a blanket and dreadlocks walking up to the bus stop. We were stopping at the light as we pulled along side him. He looked at me and I smiled at him through the window but he looked away. He walked up the bus stop bench and sat down. There was a plate of food there which appeared to be from the local sandwich shop and was probably left there by someone getting on the bus. It looked like mostly cole-slaw and the man picked it up and started eating. When the light changed we were able to pull up and I rolled down the window. He instantly put down the plate and stood up, approached and accepted the lunch with thanks.

The older kids didn't say much, but the four year old pipes up, "Mommy and Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be a homeless person so Mommy will give me a lunch."

#1

Friday, February 26, 2010

Corner of Freedom Parkway and Cleburne Avenue in front of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, 12:10 pm.

A midle-aged hispanic man is walking past the car where I pull up to the light. He sits down on the curb two cars behind us. He has a sign, but I don't read it. I take a deep breath, roll down the window, and call out, "Sir?" He hops up with smile revealing that he is missing a front tooth. I hold out the bag and say "I have a lunch if you haven eaten already." I anticipate a change in his demeanor, that he'll be disappointed I'm not offering cash. But he only brightens. "Thank you so much ma'am" and takes the bag.

The light changes and we drive up Freedom parkway. My 4 year old daughter offers to the five-year old boy in our carpool, "We made lunches for the homeless people.' "What's in the lunch?" is his obvious first question. I tell him. "What did the sign say?" I said that I didn't read all of it but the last part was "Please Help." He replies, "One of the words was ON or NO."

Countdown

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Today was the day I decided to do something about it. I've spent several months pondering what to do about what I considered an ethical dilemma- how to respond to requests for help or money from people on streetcorners on my daily commute. This is compounded by the fact that my sweet children ask a lot of questions. What does the sign say, Mommy? Why can't he build a house like you and Daddy did for us? Why doesn't he/she have money? Why are they outside with no coat?

So- here you have it. We made, assembly-line style, 12 bagged lunches. I tried not to agonize too much about what to put in them- I basically let the kids pick out a variety of things that would be easy to eat. We picked up some public transportation passes and also included a list of local resources.

And now we'll give them away. Stay tuned.