CARITAS

For the past 4 years I have had the privilege to work with our church and other area churches to provide relief for Richmonders who are currently homeless. We volunteer with CARITAS, Congregations Around Richmond Involved to Assure Shelter. Different churches take turns opening up their church buildings to be temporary shelters for one week at a time. Though the guests stay at a different church, we help to host by providing breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. We also visit, donate hygiene items and clothes, help the CARITAS staff by spending the night, clean the building, etc. It is a pretty great idea and I enjoy being a part.

My involvement is not a "calling" really, but a special assignment. I especially enjoy it when I am actually there interacting with those whom we aim to serve. The planning and preparation can be sorta overwhelming and the past couple years I have wondered why I have been asked to do it when I already feel busy enough (I know that most my "busy-ness" is my own fault. A lot of it could be prevented by being more organized and on top of things, nevertheless we usually feel kinda crazy at our house), but after the hard work is through I feel really glad to be a part. In fact, I look forward to doing it again next year! You see, I am crazy.

So, that was a big part of out week last week. For the past couple weeks we passed around lots of sign up sheets at church to ask people to donate food, serve meals, spend the night, do laundry etc. A lot of people were willing to contribute. I appreciate it and was especially thankful for the men who volunteered to spend the night, and for the women who volunteered to do laundry.

Early in the week Christian and I packed lots of lunches (except for the sandwiches which were added at the last minute.)

He was a happy helper and I was thankful. He and Grant were also great about going shopping and back and forth to the churches and other errands.

Grant helped too, by being so patient with me while receiving less attention than usual. Here, play with these fun boxes!

Danny helped me big time by making one night's dinner with me. Lots of teriyaki chicken, stir fry, and rice. Checkout this carload! The Jeep's seats were down and it was full of food and supplies!

So, two quick stories about how Heavenly Father wanted us to do a good job:

One, it is always hard to find men to spend the night. Honestly, I do not know why. Nancy Alaya and I did it a couple years ago and it was no sweat. Fun even- a little sleepover. However, because sometimes there are male guests, the bishop decided it would be best to have men. I understand, but it is hard to find guys willing to do it. Bro. Westbrook volunteered and asked in Priesthood several weeks for another man, but no luck! Even the night before, the bishopric was helping me call and ask people, but again no luck. I even tried calling people the day of and on the way. By the time I actually got there I decided, 'oh well, we only have one and that is all I can do.' Well, when they asked who the other man would be and I said there was only one, they said that that wasn't allowed and we needed to find someone quickly. 'OK, great!' Well, Anna Capelli was there dropping off some dessert and said she would help me. I was thankful. She called a couple men- no luck. She looked at me and asked if I had any last ideas- How about Chad Tross. She called him and he said yes. We were so glad we gave high fives. I called Danny and told him the good news. He said that he and the kids had just said a prayer that everything would work out. I am thankful to have a family who prays for my success and friends who help when help is needed.

Story #2. Dinner was a success. Thanks to Sis. Reynolds and Kelvin and Karla Battle for serving, I was able to talk to some of the guests and really enjoyed that. Then, we started with the laundry distribution. 20 of the ladies turned in laundry to be washed- 1-2 garbage bags each. So, my jeep was full and I was thankful that we had a good number of volunteers to help do the laundry. I called a few of the women to say that I was on my way. It was a dark and rainy night. As I was driving I heard wind and I thought that the back window was open. I looked, but I couldn't tell for sure. The lights inside the Jeep don't work so I really couldn't tell, plus there were tons of garbage bags obstructing my view. I decided that I better pull over to check on the window. So, I pulled off of 288 and got out of the car. To my shock, the back of the jeep was fully open. Here I was, responsible for such a large percentage of these womens' personal belongings and they might have fallen out of the back of the car over a span of many miles late on a dark and rainy night. I was so worried. I prayed that they would all still be there. I dropped of bags at a few houses and then got home and counted the rest of the bags. Thankfully, I had them all and we were able to get them all laundered and returned to their owners!

Overall, CARITAS was a good experience for me and helped me to recognize the many blessings that we enjoy.

For more information about CARITAS please go to the website. http://www.caritasshelter.org/ That will explain it better than I can.