Homeless Adventures

On a day called… Giving (or attempting to give):

When we are together we like to start the morning around the table talking about how we can reach out to someone that day. When we got to “C” on that particular day she had a wonderful idea of making bags for the homeless people in the large city we were staying in and handing them out to people we saw on the road. So we went to Wal-Mart and McDonalds to get the items/gift cards we needed to put the bags together and then we set out on a hunt for the homeless people!

Driving up and down the street downtown and trying to decide if these people are homeless or just dress poorly we finally spotted a gentleman that match are criteria for being “homeless”. After driving past him two times just to be sure he was homeless we made a plan! The plan seemed so simple, the driver of the car (a brand new Escalade by the way) pulls over and the passenger of the car who happened to be “C” would hop out hand the bag to our new homeless friend and say “God Bless”. We even practiced in the car while driving around the block. We had it down to a T and we approached the target, now reality was hitting. “E” was driving and pulled over and wished “C” luck while praying it was truly a homeless person! “C” gets out smiles and approaches our soon to be new “friend” (so we thought). From the car it looked so positive “C” was smiling from ear to ear and our new homeless friend took the bag and started going through it. It seemed so perfect, they were talking and from the car it looked to be a positive experience. The next thing you know “C” jumps in the car and doesn’t even get the door closed she says “Drive “E” drive”!!! “Keep driving, that was not good”. “E” being the sympathetic person she is (haha not really) was laughing so hard she could hardly drive but finally gained composure only to find out that our homeless friend was indeed homeless yet not grateful, in fact straight up hateful!

So the meeting went along these lines:

“C”: “Hi I was driving by and noticed you sitting and looking discouraged so I wanted to give you this bag and bless you. God Bless You”. (And began to walk away)

Homeless Friend: “Come back here, what is in this bag? Do you have any money for food?”

“C”: “Well I don’t have any money (as we are driving a nice car remember) but there is a gift card to McDonalds in there so you can go on over there and get you some good food”.

Homeless Friend: “SH**, they don’t let me in that place, they want even let me walk on their parking lot, you are just trying to get me in trouble, what are you a cop? What the F***, is this a f***ing joke?”

“C”: “No sir, I promise! I was just trying to bless you and let you know that Jesus loves you”.

Homeless Friend: “Jesus is my Lord and Savior, He doesn’t do a D*** thing for me just like YOU”.

“C”: Well fine just give it to someone else that will appreciate it”. Walked away again . . . this time our homeless friend was screaming at her to get back and give him so money. “C” starts sprinting and jumps in the car as he started to get up and come toward us!

Now really, you try to do something good for this missed up world and what happens . . . you get cussed out and rejected. Rejected really, wouldn’t that be how you would think the homeless would feel? Nope, that’s how they make you feel for all we know they enjoy being homeless.

So that was story number #1 of the day, after that bad experience it was “E’s” turn to “share the love”. Feeling confident they set out on foot doing some downtown shopping but hiding a homeless bag in the purse. We are walking, talking and on the lookout again!!! We go about 2 blocks look up and could it be, is it, YES it’s a homeless man sitting on the bench! This one looks promising, he looks lonely, sad, discouraged, a little disgusting but would definitely benefit from the deodorant and toothbrush in the bag. “E” builds up the courage, you know, a little “I can do it, I can do it, I CAN DO THIS”. “E” approaches and says: “Hi we are just walking around and saw you sitting there and thought you could benefit from this (pulling the bag out of the purse)”. He looks at “E”, makes direct eye contact and says” I DON’T NEED THAT, “What do you think I am Homeless”. “E” thinking well yes you really do look homeless, takes the bag back and says “Well I promise you this, there is someone else out there that must need it worst then you, have a great day! Denied really . . . did we REALLY just get denied?? Who could, who would. I am pretty sure even if we were not homeless and someone walked up and gave us a bag of goodies we would take it and smile and head home to change are appearance. Not these people, nope not at all they leave you feeling like you did something wrong. What happened to kindness, love, gratefulness!!!!!

“E” tried one more time only to find herself denied again and giving up and handing all bags to “C”! That was it, she wasn’t all about “approaching the homeless” in the first place and then getting denied two times it was time to throw in the towel and let “C” be the hero. “C” did find a gentleman that was very kind and appreciative of the bag, he even seemed excited and smiled, oh yes he did! Whew at least one man was happy that day!!!

So needless to say overall it was a true eye opener. “C” went on to continue this homeless giving while “E” threw in the towel for life. It was a great idea in theory and she is our biggest fan on the side lines but don’t expect to see her on the battle ground EVER again.

While this was quite funny and a great memory it did open our eyes to spot out and pray for the homeless people we see on the side of the road. It is a sad life regardless of how they got there!
So there it is, to changing the world one homeless person at a time . . . . feel free to try it sometime and share the experience with us!

Cheers,
KC&E