Tales of Spring Break - Feeding the Hungry

I went out for a walk during free time one day and this man came up to me and asked me for food and diapers. He told me his family was living on the streets and in shelters and he kept saying, “I need some Pampers for my baby.”

I told this man to follow me and I would at least give him food.

I knocked on the kitchen door and that particular night, the young people in charge of the program were making a special poverty meal as part of the program for the evening. I explained to them I need to come in and get some food for a homeless man but they wouldn’t let me in because what they were doing was a secret. They told me to go get Sarah.

Frustrated, I asked the man to wait a little longer as I talked to Sarah. When I told her this guy needed food, she looked at me like I was crazy. Like, we didn’t have any. She told me I could tell him we’d give him a bag of cabbage we gleaned earlier. I wanted to scream at her; “What the fuck happened to all the shit we’ve been talking about all week?! And use your fucking brain – he’s homeless! What’s he going to do with a bag of cabbages?!”

I went back outside and talked to the man some more. He was like a lot of other homeless people I’d met; he was dirty-looking and smelled like alcohol. I didn’t particularly believe everything he was telling me but I did believe he needed food. Thankfully, someone finally gave me a bag with two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the kitchen but even that kind of pissed me off because I knew we had a whole mess of leftover mac and cheese in the fridge. I gave him the sandwiches and he thanked me several times and shook my hand before walking off.

Why did the assholes in charge make me feel like I had done something nuts? All week long you’re telling me, “Feed the hungry. Feed the hungry. Feed the hungry.”

Here’s the damn hungry. Why did you all look at me like I was crazy for trying to feed him?!

This wonderful woman named Becky who is the program coordinator for Florida heard about what I did and told me she thought it was nice. I really appreciated that because I think everyone else thought it was dangerous and dumb.