All I have is tears. Please, please, please take the time to read this (its one of my most favorite stories) from a Pay it Forward fan who would like to remain anonymous… Many years ago, I was the day manager of a bar and restaurant that was right next to the railroad, and within a block of a railroad bridge that offered some shelter to the homeless from the cold. The homeless learned pretty quickly that our restaurant would empty our left-over chili, potato salad, sliced tomatoes, and sliced meats after the lunch crowd left because we always stocked fresh the next morning. Our manager did not want things that might spoil left over for the next day. Once all the doctors and lawyers that worked downtown (and ate at our restaurant over their lunch hour finished eating), the homeless would come and “dumpster dive” for food. The dumpster was near our backdoor and our backdoor was used more by patrons than our front door as it faced the parking lot. The “dumpster diving” was a huge frustration to my manager, who instructed us to “Run off the bums.” After running off the homeless for a few months, I started to get to know these guys by name. There was Pat the Democrat, that spoke only in rhyme; Dave, who had feet too big to fit in ordinary shoes and had to wear plastic clown shoes; and Edgar who was around 70 years old and had worked as a conductor for the passenger trains, but had been forced to cash out his retirement for his wife’s medical bills and had lost his house in bankruptcy after her death from cancer. Then came the day when the guys told me that Edgar had died of starvation and they had found him frozen near the train tracks. I knew I had to do something, but I felt helpless. I had just recently moved out on my own, and barely made enough money to pay my rent. My apartment had only a sleeping bag for my bed, a lamp, two cups, and two plates. I didn’t even have a refrigerator of my own yet, so I couldn’t really fix meals to share. Then it came to me! I knew what I could do for them. I went to work the next day and called my manager in to see how empty the bar was between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. when happy hour began. We had maybe two or three customers in the late after-noon, hardly enough to even look like we were open. So I asked him, “What would it take to convince you to open a soup kitchen for the homeless from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.? Rather than running off the ‘bums’, couldn’t we serve them the leftover food? Maybe make some warm soup out of the left-over vegetables, and add meat to supplement it? The homeless would be warm for a few hours a day, would have at least one good meal, and not have to die of starvation in our own backyard.” He agreed to give it a try for a few weeks, but said if he noticed a drop in profits from doing this he would close it down. To his surprise, not only did word get around about the free meals for the homeless, but word also got out about his generosity and his lunch crowd grew enough to hire four extra wait staff. The customers from downtown started giving us donations of coats, blankets, toiletries, socks, and shoes for the homeless; a shoe-maker even volunteered to make some size-22 shoes for Dave. But that is not the end of my story. It felt wonderful that I had been able to give to the homeless, but what I didn’t anticipate was them giving back to me and all the women that I worked with. Since this was a bar as well as a restaurant, after 7 p.m. we stopped serving meals and people came to drink, especially men. We always had trouble feeling safe getting to our cars at night when we closed at 2 a.m. Well, shortly after opening the soup kitchen, we started to leave one night and the “bums” had lined up at the back door to escort us to our cars. They would take us by the arm, like they were taking us to the dance floor, and escort each of us to our own car. They would wait to make sure we were able to get our cars started, and then waved to us as we drove away. Every night our escorts were there, and we never had to feel unsafe again. We also learned very quickly from their stories how vulnerable we all are, how each of us could be in their situation. A job loss, a medical emergency, a trauma that we cannot overcome, a stroke that leaves us disabled and without the resources to make it through a disability claim before we lose everything, a mental illness, and so many things can happen to put anyone in a homeless state. This lesson about humanity will stay with me throughout my entire life. None of us are better than the least of us. One of those homeless people touched my heart so much that I actually opened my home to him. He was just 16 years old, and his mother had been put in jail for murdering his step father who had abused and beaten her for years until she finally pulled a gun and shot him. He had no family to stay with and had been living on the streets for a couple of years. He had just turned 18 when I met him, but he was smart and sweet and was trying so hard to find work and get a foot up in life. I talked to my boyfriend and we agreed that what he really needed was an address so he could find a job. We agreed to let him come and live with us for a few months. Well, he found that job and in a few months had enough money to get his own apartment and move out. That felt fantastic and I expected it would be the last time we would ever see or hear from him again. About nine years passed when one day I got a letter from him in the mail. He told me the rest of his story: The job we had helped him get had a college plan, so he had gotten his G.E.D. and had gone on to college where he majored in nursing. He had then gone on to become a doctor and was now practicing medicine in another state. He said he owed me some rent and hoped that he had sent enough. Enclosed was a check for three thousand dollars. I had just had my first child and on the same day that I received his letter, I received a bill for three thousand dollars from the hospital. Sometimes I think that Paying it Forward just means you will someday have it all paid back. ~Shared with love ~ PIF crew ♥
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 12:10:01 +0000
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