This has been the hottest week of the year in Northeast
Florida.
It’s one thing for forecasters to say that. It’s another to
walk outside and feel the heat rain down on you. As comfortable as the air
conditioning was Wednesday, leaving it to volunteer downtown at the City Rescue Mission is a very good
way to insert some humility with the humidity.
Initially, I was uncomfortable in my role of wiping down
tables when people were finished eating. The room had a capacity of 112. In the
90 minutes we were there, there were not too many empty seats.
As wave after wave trudged in to gobble up a meal of tuna
casserole, green beans, carrots and bread I started to observe, as well as feel
guilty for my initial reticence. Frequently, Jacksonville’s less fortunate
would walk right in front of me as they collected their salad and peaches at
the other end of the room.
Standing against the glass waiting for people to finish
their meal gave me time to think.
The most sobering moment was watching a young black man, who
looked to be in his 20s, walk in, pump his hands under the hand sanitizer and
continue on to receive his food. The fact he didn’t break stride when cleaning
his hands is what stuck with me. That one motion said that he has visited City
Rescue Mission so many times that he knew exactly where it was without looking
and without wasting movement.
That one motion humbled me. I didn’t know his name, nor did
I ever strike up a conversation with him. But, from then on when I cleaned a
table, I made a habit of saying hello, asking people how their day was and
treating them like the people they are.
Of course there were some quizzical looks, like when I
couldn’t help by observe the gentleman who walked into the City Rescue Mission
in a Boston Bruins hat, T-shirt and black jacket. Rather than judging, my heart
hoped that he at least came from a cool place on an afternoon where
temperatures were in the mid-90s with an ever-increasing humidity.
Every day, the City Rescue Mission feeds about 400 people.
Of the people who ate meals Wednesday about 75 percent of them were men.
Considering 40 percent of homeless men have served in the military and
Jacksonville is a military community, it’s fair to assume that many of the men
served by the City Rescue Mission are veterans.
Though the number of homeless people is dwindling, there are
still hundreds of thousands of people in the richest country in the world who
do not have a consistent place to live. Jacksonville has approximately 3,000
homeless people. More than 630,000 people in America are homeless. That is
taking every resident of Tampa and Orlando and leaving them on the street—along
with 35,000 others.
In a perfect world, I would never have told anyone about my
trip to the City Rescue Mission. To me, it cheapens an act of kindness by
broadcasting it. But, Wednesday’s volunteerism convicted me. I have had ample
opportunities and blessings in my life, even in this time of transition.
Homeless statistics can be cold and detached things. Seeing the
warmth of the people who embody those numbers is a sobering cup of ice water on
a sweltering summer afternoon.
Laughs and liveliness,
-Wb
