This week has been very busy.... well every week is busy, but this week we have had an appeal for raising money for the Night Shelter. I have been a part of that, delivering buckets to collectors, sometimes collecting myself and having two stints of counting the money. In between times I have been fitting in my usual work and chaplaincies. I thought tonight I would share a few stories from my time holding a bucket and looking eagerly at people, hoping they would put money in my bucket.
Mum -son encounter.
I spent an hour standing in a centre city mall area near the ramp which led people out of the supermarket. A man I recognised as a salesman in a hardware store kept staring down the ramp. It must have been his day off. He explained to me that he was waiting for his elderly mum, who he said was relatively frail. I noticed him sitting and waiting for a while. Then he would come across and look again. He went out to the car park just in case she was there, but came back and sat in a nearby seat. A small frail looking elderly woman came up the ramp and stopped to fish out some change to put in my bucket. She kept digging in her purse and then I realised this man was staring over my shoulder. "Not too much mum!" he said. "Don't give them too much! It is only old loser alcoholics that use the shelter!" She glared at her son. I glared at her son. "Am I being a bit redneck in my view?" he said to me. "Well" I said, "I think so... " then I told him of a case where a "normal" person needed a bed. His mother was still fishing for cash. She eyeballed him, raised her finger toward him, "We could all end up in trouble and need help." she said, wagging her finger, "You are just lucky you are where you are at!" "OK" the man said, "Lets get going." The mum put her coins in the bucket, nodded at me and followed her son away.
Warm reward..
On Saturday morning I collected at the local Farmers' market. We began at 8 a.m. on a very frosty morning that stayed cold. You do not realise how cold you get till you stand in one place for a few hours. After about a half hour a woman walked past me, nodded a greeting and went her way. "No money from her", I registered. I could smell the lovely hot snacks being prepared behind me. After a few minutes I was surprised when a hand seemed to come from behind and insert coins in my bucket. It was this woman. "... and..." she said as she reached to counter of the snack bar and presented a tray of snacks in front of me, "Take one, you deserve it." she said. I took one, thanked her very much and she went on her way. Later in the morning another woman arrived to give me money with a paper towel holding one of the snacks. People are nice.
Foot in Mouth times two!
A woman came up to me and began to ask about the night shelter and could she come and have a look some time. She asked about all sorts of things and we talked about the plight of people in the streets and mental health patients etc. I wondered as I responded to her questions why she was taking such an interest. I asked her, "What do you do?" There was a brief silence. "Oh I am Claire Curren the South Dunedin member of parliament!" Immediately I knew why she was familiar. I felt so foolish. I was up at another super-market in the afternoon and a man walked up to me. He put money in and said, "I would like to get hold of your chairman. Can you help me with that?" I thought about it and suggested he write his name and number down for me. "What was your name?" I enquired. "Neil Collins"... just a well known public figure, city councillor, and long term local radio announcer! He said, "Its Saturday and I am dressed a bit rough." Again as soon as he said his name I thought, "Of course you are!" and felt stupid.
Affirmations
Early in the week I took a bucket to a man who was collecting for us at a supermarket. I knew this man, he was a bit of a philanthropist and had donated to both the night shelter and our Christmas dinners in the past. He asked questions about the shelter, we talked about the world economy then he said, "You're David Brown aren't you? You guys are doing good stuff!" "Oh well we get there, we've got the night shelter running OK." I responded. "No" he said, "I meant you and your church. You really serve the community. I love your facade and your building. The place looks alive. You and the Sallys (Salvation Army) are doing your bit!" ... "We try our best" I responded rather lamely. Over the week there were several similar conversations. Someone said, "You're still doing it then? You never stop, that's great!" Another saw me and said, "Is there any time when you are not doing something for someone?" Others congratulated us on the night shelter and its place in the city. ... They don't really know me, but I appreciated their warm comments.
Generosity
Just a few stories of people's generosity. I was collecting at a supermarket and a man walked passed to the ATM machine seemingly ignoring me. After a while he stepped away from the machine and I assumed he would walk past again. But he diverted toward me, reached over and put a big wad of new rolled up notes into the bucket. All I could do was stammer "thank you". He just nodded and walked on. Another man walked up to me as he came out of the supermarket and put in a significant donation. I thanked him and he disappeared across the car park. A few minutes later he appeared again carrying a tin. "Have you forgotten something in the market?" I asked, being friendly. "Nah" he replied, "Open your lid." I managed to open the corner of the bucket and he tipped in a big tin load of collected silver coins. At the end of the day, we counted the returns for the day, then added up the week's total. It came to around $300 short of $10000. I mentioned this in Church and an elderly man came up to me and said, "Once you have all the money totaled, tell me the final total and I will make it up to the $10000." People are generous!
Breaking bread
At 5 p.m. on Saturday we ended up at the shelter ready to count out takings. There was four of us from the trust, three Catholics and me the only protestant. We were already tired because we had been collecting all day. I made a cup of tea and we looked for something to eat. A stall holder at the market had given us some loaves of bread for the freezer and one was a savoury loaf. We could not find biscuits so decided we could eat this loaf. I got a knife to cut it and was informed that this type of loaf you broke, you don't cut it. So I declared, "Let's break bread!" Then I said, "You guys are in big trouble you know that?" "Why?" they said. "Well you are all Catholics and you are breaking bread with a protestant!" We laughed, but in a very real sense, this was a communion feast. A cup of tea and bread broken as four followers of Jesus renewed themselves in the common purpose of living out their discipleship. I love the people I meet in my activities. They are special folks.
Photo: I was wrong, we have snow again this weekend and it is going to stay awhile.
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