Chance act of kindness puts face on those in need

Last winter, during a time when we had a lot of snowfall, I was driving downtown one afternoon and was stopped at the red light in front of a local tavern.

As I waited for the light to change, an intoxicated man waddled out of the tavern, stood atop a large snowbank waiting to cross the street, slipped and fell face first onto the pavement, into the street. The light turned green, and the people in front of me proceeded to drive around him.

I pulled over onto the snow bank and jumped out to help. The man was too large for me to help up. So I peered into the tavern and asked for help. Two intoxicated men came out and obviously knew who my snowbank man was. “Clarence!” they yelled. “What are you doing on the ground?”

They tried to lift him but they couldn’t. They managed to roll him over, drag him onto the cold icy sidewalk, dropped his feet, and went back into the tavern. By this time his T-shirt had bunched up under his back and I could tell he was cold and his skin was turning red. I had called 911 and they were on their way. Nobody else stopped to help.

I had about 10 minutes of time to just wait with frustration that I could not lift Clarence, nor talk to him. All I could do was look into his sky blue eyes, surrounded by his haggard red face and white hair. I knew that he could see me, and at one point he muttered, “I’m cold.” I felt so helpless … .

The fire trucks arrived and the paramedics jumped out and went over to Clarence. They immediately recognized him. “Clarence, what happened? Are you hurt? Where do you want us to take you today? Detox or the hospital?”

I watched, hopeful that I would see Clarence get up and walk and talk. But he continued to lie on the ice. They did manage to get him to sit up. As I watched this all unfold, a paramedic came over and asked if I was the 911 caller. I said I was and he asked me questions about what had happened. Then, out of the blue, he said, “Thank you very much for waiting with Clarence. Usually people call us, then leave the scene. You are one of very few who ever stay.”

This statement shocked me. Why would you just leave a soul in the cold snow not knowing if he had been taken care of properly? I felt then that it was OK for me to leave. I got in my car and drove away, with tears in my eyes for Clarence. What was his story, would he get help? I couldn’t stop thinking of his bright blue eyes peering up at me from the sidewalk.

Jump to early November. I had been working at the Salvation Army as business administrator for about a month. What a difference working for a nonprofit is, as compared to my previous corporate job. I had gotten a good education about the needy and less fortunate in our community, and what great work the Army does to care for them.

One day in my office, I had been thinking of Clarence as I so often have done since the accident. I think it was his eyes and his name I couldn’t forget. Clarence, like the soul on “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Then, all of a sudden, as I was looking out my office window, I saw Clarence get off the bus in front of our campus. It’s Clarence! I ran down the hall to the door just in time to see him walk past my building to the Family Resource Center. He was walking, quite swiftly and I stood with a smile on my face because this was my first glimpse of Clarence walking upright! I was overcome with emotion. I returned to my office and told my story to the captains.

Later that day, I was on a tour of the resource center and went into the waiting room for our emergency shelter and food bank. There, sitting in a chair waiting for assistance, was Clarence. I smiled and kind of did a little wave, but knew he didn’t know who I was.

Jump to Nov. 25, our big Thanksgiving turkey giveaway day. At 7 a.m. I checked on the line of people waiting to get into our community center for their turkeys. Standing at the front of the line was Clarence. Once again, he was in my life, on our campus, requesting assistance.

I went up and said hello and asked how he was. He asked if there were two lines this year and I said no, just one. He then said, “well then I had better go get in the right line.” He knew he had cut in front of about 50 waiting people, so preceded to walk about a block back to the end of the line.

A good man, I thought. I then raced around looking for the captain to tell him my Clarence was here. I found the captain at the canteen vehicle parked on the street right in front of Clarence, who had just been given a hot cup of coffee. “There’s Clarence,” I pointed out to the captain. “Well, God bless him,” he replied.

Later that morning, I was working the food distribution line. It was so busy, I had forgotten about Clarence. We were giving out over 6,000 turkeys. A few moments later, Clarence appeared in my line. I went up to him and for the first time, said his name. “Hi Clarence, thanks for coming today. Can I help you with your turkey?” He said yes and produced a big bag and a backpack. I helped him get his bag of groceries into the bag and zipped up his turkey into his backpack. I got both bags on his shoulders for him, all while looking into those familiar blue eyes.

“Happy Thanksgiving Clarence,” I said. He grasped my arm, and after all this time and all my thoughts of him, in one sentence he said to me, “Thank you, dear.”