Sunday July 20, 2014
Julian comes to stay with me on Saturday evening. Just in time for a bath and bedtime. He plays hard all day long and it's been a very hot summer. In the morning I tell him we can go to McDonald's for pancakes, which he is really happy about. When we finish our breakfast, we order 20 breakfast burritos to go. We head to downtown Ogden and St. Anne's Shelter for homeless individuals. There are a few people outside and we ask if they would like some breakfast. Julian seems a little scared - and I can't blame him too much. It's a pretty dirty neighborhood and everyone outside is smoking and looking pretty ragged. He watches as I chat with the woman who sit on the curb. They tell me about the programs here at St. Anne's and at Salvation Army and the soup kitchen nearby. They are very kind women and they are genuinely happy for the short visit and little food that we share.
We drive over to the city park where a lot of people from the shelter are hanging out. There was a Farmers Market here the day before and there is a lot of debris around and cleanup to be done. It's still pretty early in the morning and people there seem tired.
There are a few people sitting near the playground and I hand Julian some food and tell him to ask if they would like some. He's a little timid at first, but when he sees the huge smiles on people's faces, he warms up too. We hand out all the burritos that we have and then we see one man sitting by himself across the park who didn't get any food. Alex hands Julian some money and tells him to offer it to the man. Julian does a hop-skip over to the man and happily holds out his hand with some dollars. The man smiles up at him from his place under a tree and says "God bless you, son."
Julian comes to stay with me on Saturday evening. Just in time for a bath and bedtime. He plays hard all day long and it's been a very hot summer. In the morning I tell him we can go to McDonald's for pancakes, which he is really happy about. When we finish our breakfast, we order 20 breakfast burritos to go. We head to downtown Ogden and St. Anne's Shelter for homeless individuals. There are a few people outside and we ask if they would like some breakfast. Julian seems a little scared - and I can't blame him too much. It's a pretty dirty neighborhood and everyone outside is smoking and looking pretty ragged. He watches as I chat with the woman who sit on the curb. They tell me about the programs here at St. Anne's and at Salvation Army and the soup kitchen nearby. They are very kind women and they are genuinely happy for the short visit and little food that we share.
We drive over to the city park where a lot of people from the shelter are hanging out. There was a Farmers Market here the day before and there is a lot of debris around and cleanup to be done. It's still pretty early in the morning and people there seem tired.
There are a few people sitting near the playground and I hand Julian some food and tell him to ask if they would like some. He's a little timid at first, but when he sees the huge smiles on people's faces, he warms up too. We hand out all the burritos that we have and then we see one man sitting by himself across the park who didn't get any food. Alex hands Julian some money and tells him to offer it to the man. Julian does a hop-skip over to the man and happily holds out his hand with some dollars. The man smiles up at him from his place under a tree and says "God bless you, son."
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