“I saw what you did”. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I had been at the shelter for over an hour and these were the first words I heard from one of the homeless people. Was he upset? What exactly did I do?
When I arrived at the shelter, I was assigned to cut vegetables. I had never handled a knife, so this dangerous task only added to my nervousness. With each cut, I had my fingers as far back from the knife as possible. The repetition of this task soothed me.
Then everyone assembled for a blessing. During the prayer, I noticed one of the homeless people staring at some of the children. My first instinct was to put my arm around Elijah, my teacher’s son. However when I looked closer, I realized that he was around my age. How did he end up here? I began to feel guilty for thinking that this teenager wanted to harm anyone.
Once the prayer was finished, the food service began. I worked feverishly to get plates of food to the tables. I didn’t know whether there was a certain order or if you just gave the plates to people randomly. I realized that I was slowly down the process, so I served the food to the first people I saw. A man put his hand out to stop me and said “I saw what you did”. I jumped. What was he going to do? He began to laugh. I wasn’t sure whether he was laughing at my panicked expression or at the fact that I was the worst food server. Either way, I was happy to hear laughter. I explained to him that I did not know there was a system but I would make sure he got a bigger plate of food. He appreciated my honesty and thanked me for my help.
From this experience, I realized that homeless people weren’t bad. They are regular people who are dealing with bad situations that have led to their homelessness. Though my service seemed insignificant to me, the time I spent at the shelter was very important to them. I gave them juice and it was as if I had given them everything. Now I know that the simple act of showing up and serving food can really improve someone else’s life.