Trash or Treasure?

Here's a story told by a friend of mine. May your leftovers find a place other than the trash!

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to work with the Compassion Center and the Safe Harbor Shelter here in Bloomington through the Leadership McLean County program. I was shocked at the number of homeless people we have right here in our community. There are approximately 126 homeless people including 12 who literally live out on the streets. Many of these people have families and have jobs, but still oftentimes lack the funds for a warm meal, much less a home.

After our SFCV luncheon, I had the privilege of delivering our extra food to the shelter. It was an amazing experience, seeing the looks on these peoples faces…just to get a good meal today. I saw young adults (probably still in their teens) and elderly people who looked like they could have been any one of our grandparents.

I was only there a minute…simply to drop off the food. While there, I witnessed many smiles and received numerous "thanks" from people whose only hot meal today may be the one we delivered. As I left, I could hardly contain my emotions knowing that in just a few short weeks I'll be celebrating the holidays with my family, in a nice warm home, sitting in front of my nice warm fireplace, taking a nice long nap after eating way too much food.

It is a wonderful feeling, though, knowing that we are working to make a difference in our community by helping people less fortunate than ourselves.