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APPENDIX
#6 — “We
Learn to do Acts of Love" I want to tell you
about my service with PADS and how it has impacted me. Do you know what PADS stands for? Neither did I, a few years ago!
It stands for Public Action to Deliver Shelter. It is a nonprofit
organization that provides temporary shelter for homeless people at
various sites in Lake Country, Illinois, that operated from October
through April. My involvement with
PADS at Joy! Lutheran Church began in 1996.
I was invited to join five other members to start a ministry, each
with a special job. I agreed
to head a fund raiser, by default, for one year only.
(I hate door to door fund raisers!) The next thing I know,
everyone else with PADS has moved and Deanna Horne and I are the only
committee members left. Neither
of us wants to be the leader of PADS, but we agree to be the interim
leaders. We started to deliver
meals to a church providing shelter in Waukegan. I was trying to make myself feel good by doing a good deed. I am driving to
Waukegan late in the evening. It
is dark and cold. I can small
the hot food in the back of the van, and I realize that I am hungry, but
my family will have to wait for me and for their dinner. I hate to drive
in the dark in the winter weather too.
I drive into a dimly lit parking lot in the back of the shelter.
There are people milling around the entrance. A few men, big - tall - burly - bundled-up - rough-looking
strangers approach my van. I
lock the doors and scoot around to the back of the van to begin unloading
the food. They politely ask
if they can help carry the heavy boxes of food.
They scoop up the boxes and bags and rush to hold open the door.
They follow me right back out of the door into the cold and dark,
because they can not stay inside until the shelter officially opens.
They exclaim about how good the food smells and thank me heartily,
for the meals I’ve delivered. Remember, I went to
perform an act of kindness to make me feel like a better person, and I
did, but... As I drive away, I do
feel proud to have done a good deed.
I stepped safely outside of my comfort zone.
I am sad to know that right here in Gurnee, many families are
homeless. But also, instead
of driving along and comparing myself to friends and neighbors who have
more than me: bigger houses,
nicer cars, better jobs, exotic vacations, designer clothes... I drive away SO
thankful to be driving a warm, safe, reliable van; gas tank on full.
I am happy to be heading back to my cozy, warm, comfortable,
well-lit house. I am happy my family
and I can return to a home cooked meal on our own table, followed by a
good night’s sleep in our own beds.
I am happy to be blessed with good friends, good health, and a good
job. Instead of feeling smug
about doing a good deed, time and again, I come away from the shelter
feeling so grateful for all that God has given me.
I am grateful to find a way to show my children how to help others
in need in a concrete way. I
even convinced all 120 students in my daughters school to provide a sack
meal once each month to feed guests breakfast and lunch at two shelters! Last year Deanna and I
signed on to be site coordinators at the Healthreach Clinic in Waukegan.
Neither of us believed
that we could provide three square meals every Sunday from October through
April to that site with help from Joy! Lutheran Church alone.
We hoped and prayed and made contingency plans, but the
congregation responded overwhelmingly. Each family, Brownie Troop or small group who took the leap
and went to the site to serve themselves, came back with the same
gratitude and enthusiasm, eager to sign up again. God works in strange
ways. Sometimes we are called
to start with little steps, and the next thing we know, instead of serving
others for the sake of serving, we realize how we, ourselves, can grow in
faith through service to others. |