Equality of Giving

On tonight’s run the two groups that went out didn’t really see anyone. This could be a combination of the fact that it is St. Patrick’s Day and that it is one of the first warm nights of the season. We all hope that people found some place safe to stay for the night. Because nothing much happened tonight, I want to take this opportunity to talk about a trip that a group of Lesley Students took over the spring break. We went on Alternative Spring Break and worked with Habitat for Humanity in South Carolina, North Carolina, and New Jersey. I was lucky enough to be on a trip to Spartanburg, South Carolina. There were a few defining moments for me that created a theme for my trip. This theme was the equality in giving.
The first moment was when we were invited to eat lunch at a local soup kitchen. The experience we had was not the one that we were expecting. Instead of standing in line we were led through the back and seated at a special table with flowers. Instead of letting us get our own food, the volunteers brought it to us. We stayed in one group and it was obvious that we were being treated in a special manner. When we talked about it later, a lot of us (myself included) were disappointed about not getting the “real experience”. But then we talked about it more in terms of the community we were let into. We were helping to build a house in their community – we were giving to them. They wanted to find a way to give back and that lunch was their way of doing so.
The second time was when the whole group was in a van, and we were lost. We stopped at a gas station and Anne, our adult leader, got out and asked for directions. The woman she got directions from was one of those people we met who exuded southern hospitality. She even came over to our van and struck up a conversation with Anne. During this conversation, the woman mentioned that she and her kids were hungry but couldn’t get anything to eat. At this point Anne said, “Well, alright. Come on lets get you some food” and hopped out of the van. There was hugging and more kind words exchanged before Anne got back in the van and told us she was going to try not to cry. It is people like Anne that make me believe that there are more people out there who want to help. People who want to make a difference in at least one persons life. This makes me want to push Lesley Delivers to make more of a difference each week.