Waking Up To The Needs Of The Homeless

I used to think a homeless and hungry person was a tramp, a hobo or a drunkard. I was wrong.

I found this out when my family and I cooked for B.E.D.S. (Building Ecumenical Discipleship through Sheltering), a Chicago program where local churches provide food and a place to sleep to those who need it.

Many people we knew worked in the B.E.D.S. program. There were three crews involved in B.E.D.S.: the cooking crew, the serving crew and the crew that came in and stayed all night.

One Saturday every month, my family would devote the day to cooking. That night we would take our food to the church and drop it off in the kitchen. I felt very awkward the first time I went, because all of the homeless were outside in a line waiting to get in. The people I saw were just ordinary people, and this really caught me by surprise. I remember it would always be dark, except for this one abrupt light - the light of the kitchen. That light was also the hope of 40 people whose lives turned upside down.

The people who attended the dinner varied significantly. One year I saw a grandmother. A grandmother of all people. Did she not have a family to take care of her? She did. I was her family and the other people who cooked and gave her shelter were her family.

Another year, a woman waited in line with two children. If not for organizations like B.E.D.S., she would have watched her children starve.

The thing is, this kind of thing can happen anywhere and anytime. In a matter of two years, five people on my block lost their jobs: a healthcare manager; an engineer; a computer specialist; a telephone company executive; and a computer designer. These people could be you or living right next door to you.

My neighbor was on the cooking crew, too. Both of our families had someone who lost a job. We both cooked for B.E.D.S. as a thank you to God for keeping us out of that kind of situation. I cooked for B.E.D.S. because it felt good to help others.

B.E.D.S. is a Midwest program but I’m sure there are programs similar to it in just about every town.

If more of us gave a little time to programs like this, then maybe, if we fell into the situation ourselves, someone would catch us.

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