Tonight a bunch of people from our church were invited to a friend's place for a pot luck dinner/get together. However this wasn't just to have dinner - the real purpose was to donate supplies for a local homeless shelter for families. There was a list provided of things they needed and we piled our presents under the Christmas tree and they will be delivered to the Anne Marie House.
It was a fun night with friends, and served a great purpose. Best of all it was a great learning experience for my kids. We talked at length about why we were doing it, and why the items were needed. They were so sad to realize that there are families with kids their age in such need. We had bought a big box of diapers to donate - I had a specific reason for choosing diapers.
I remember my first year in the US, I saw more homeless people on the streets of Salt Lake City than I had ever seen in my life in NZ. In fact, I believe I saw more homeless people in just one DAY than I had seen in my entire life. Sadly, I became accustomed to seeing the homeless men and women on the streets, then one night we were driving past a homeless shelter and in the line waiting to get in, I saw a young mother holding a baby. I burst into tears - I had a new baby myself, my first, and though we weren't wealthy, we were always able to afford diapers. It had never occurred to me that babies were in homeless shelters. And that is the long version as to why I bought diapers today.
2 comments:
What a special gesture. It is good if the children learned something from this as well.
You are very kind Joanna.
Cheers, Margaret
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