random acts

Wow. The last two days have been constant motion. (I've been thrown off my workout schedule, but I'm getting really good at the 100-yard dash from my office in the church to the shelter in the gym!) For those who are wondering, no I haven't gotten much sleep. HOWEVER, I have managed to get a pretty good handle on the situation and I think I've managed to do some good things.

It's been a fairly scattered couple of days, so let me just throw some random observations out here ... maybe you can draw your own profound conclusions while I go take a nap!

> Tonight we have about 90 residents at the Center. That number continues to come down from where it was even a week ago -- which is the goal, right?! This weekend it will vary a little as folks are going to see family who are other places, or get some of their family to other family, or maybe even looking for work somewhere else.

> The day work at the Center has really changed. The first few weeks it was very focused on crowd control, meal service, and case work. Now, the days are actually pretty quiet.
- The kids get on their school buses anywhere from 7:15 - 8:20 and come back around 3:30.
- Most adults are out during the day finding work (or already working) and looking for places to live.
- Family Services (financial assistance, case work) has moved to a centralized location to serve the two remaining shelters (us and Green Acres Baptist Church, which is named for the area of town, not the tv show or the funeral home).

> The people here continue to blow me away.
- The Red Cross shelter managers are really great. They're really getting little in the way of direction or support (that I can see) from Red Cross, but they keep plugging along, and really make it a goal to get services to our clients and try to have them not be our clients any longer than they have to.
- The volunteers continue to show up and say 'tell me what to do.' They don't care if it's holding a baby or taking out the trash, if they're sanitizing cots and mats or driving someone to see their new apartment. They just walk in and say, 'I'm here, put me to work.' Thank God.

> Our residents and guests (people who are coming for meals or services, but have other living arrangements) seem to know that we want to help them, and only a very very few (to answer the question many of us who only know this story from the news, will ask) seem to think that we have to help them.

> Completely and totally random:
- I have a golf-ball sized knot and bruise on my right shoulder. I'm strong, and I can lift things, but when I lift something and simultaneously run into something else, it will leave a mark. :)
- True to form, I've been in east Texas three days, and my twang has returned.
- The church staff has been wonderful and welcoming. And evidently the entire congregation knew I was coming; I've only had to introduce myself by name and people say, "Oh you're the one who came to help from Indianapolis!" (I'm assuming they were told by way of encouragement, not by way of warning!)
- I have never used so much hand sanitizer in my life.
- I'd forgotten just how long I've been away from youth ministry ... and you know what reminded me? Driving a 15 psgr van. HA!

Oooh! And speaking of youth ministers ... Mark and Carrie, I can't wait to meet Morgan Marie. Don't let her get too big in the next 10 days, okay?!

I think I'll wrap up for now. Tomorrow I'm going to clear the cobwebs with a hike through the fitness park, do my rounds with the weekend shelter staff, and make some Goodwill and Salvation Army runs. By then I'll have the brain cells to fire up my rant about bureaucratic frustrations and incompetence. And wow. Their name is Legion. Buckle up!

The most profound moment of the day was about midafternoon. Kids were coming in from school. The tv was on one of the news stations (CNN I think). Six or eight residents (men mostly) were standing and sitting around it. And no one was talking. The story? A report with city and state officials in N.O. and LA, talking abouth which wards in N.O. will be reopened, which parishes will not be. It was quite surreal to observe - I kept walking, didn't want to stop and eavesdrop or intrude - knowing that the people standing in front of me are the people whose lives - and livelihoods - are being discussed as so much anonymous news. It reminds me to be respectful of what I hear, what I do, what I say, and to remember that this is not work, it is service. Big difference. Huge.

(Yes, Mom, I promise to get some sleep this weekend!)