outside the box

My daughter Taylor always finishes school for the year earlier than my other 2 daughters so we have some great alone time for a tiny bit every summer. Time alone with Tay is pretty rare actually. One of the things she and I have started to do together is go to St. Vincent’s Church to give food vouchers out to the homeless every Thursday.

Driving down the street with her yesterday Taylor and I were stopped at a red light and a homeless person held up a sign that read, “Homeless Vet”. I have a system for the times I see someone on the street corner. If I am stopped and within eye sight of whomever is there, I will give him or her something. I have been ridiculed by people in the past for giving out money. “You don’t know what they will do with the cash! Might use it to buy liquor or drugs. And why doesn’t that person just go get a job?!”

Here is how I look at it. Yeah, they might use it for drugs, or alcohol, but who am I to judge? If I were homeless, I would probably want a drink too. And what do I know about that person to assume they are capable of getting a job. I don't know how bad their life has been. They might have been abused as a kid, or worse. Can I really look at anyone and know enough about them to judge. Especially someone I am spending all of 5 seconds with, at the most.

When we moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago, Taylor and I would pass a street every day on the way home from school that is by the Veteran’s Building, and inevitably someone was on the corner asking for money. Sometimes it was a struggle to grab money in time before the light changed or the homeless person could get to our car. Taylor decided she wanted to help too, and figured out a better way to do it.

Taylor went home and put her quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies on the floor. She divided them into equal piles, and put them in individual ziplock bags. With the bags stashed away in our car, we had easy access to the cash and never missed a chance to give at that light again.

Yesterday we were not so prepared, and once again Taylor had another great idea pretty out of the box.

“Mom, why don’t you give out cards with the address of St. Vincent’s Church so the homeless person can know where to get food vouchers every day?” What a great idea. So obvious and simple. I’m on it.