Saturday mornings

So on about once a month and more towards the end on Saturday mornings we

would head to Monterey and help out giving food to the homeless.  We got to know

 some of the regulars and through time became more comfortable...

both with the homeless people and with the organizers of the program.

This was a sign written by Mark, one of our favorites

we would see on Saturdays.  He was a funny

intelligent character with a great sense of humor.  Mark actually

enjoyed being homeless and said that he felt better

in this phase of his life (being homeless) than he did

before.  I know this does not reflect by any means the

entire homeless population.  Mark is one of the most unique homeless

men I have met.  There is a funny story that goes with the sign above:

The week before he had a wooden box contraption

that he was trying to figure what it was...Bobo said

it looked like a reindeer named Robie.  Well,

Mark liked that  a lot and so he said he was going to

go down by the wharf and ask people what they thought. 

He made the sign above (he spelled Bobo as Beaux-French like Deveraux).

He said any money he collected would be Bobo's.

So good on his word, Mark brought Bobo and Deveraux

three dollars.  He gave them each a dollar and with the third dollar,

he asked if they could share and then just took the last

dollar and ripped it in half and gave them each a half.

It was the funniest thing.  They just were looking at him.

I told Mark that will probably be the only time they

will receive money from someone homeless.

Giving them their money he promised.

Melissa, another favorite friend we met.

Most of the time we would make sandwiches.

Ben and Emeline came down on our last

Saturday, hoping to pass on the torch!

Many of the people in the line would say how glad they

were that the kids were there and how important it was.

One woman even told me when she was little, she would

serve the homeless with her mom.  You never know where life

finds you and everyone has a story. 

New friends. We will miss them.  I am so glad

Dev and Bobo had this opportunity and we met some

wonderful people.

Mark told me he was going to miss us.  We will miss him!

I told Deveraux one day as we were leaving, and one of the

guys shouted out to Bobo that he was the best kid in the

world, that I really enjoy being with the homeless

population.  They are often real with not as much

pretense, interesting, and I love hearing their stories.

As hard as it was sometimes getting up and getting there,

I am so glad we stayed with it and met friends and

found a place.

Now as we travel, I may not give every homeless person

money, but I want to look them in the eye and

acknowledge that they are a person.

God Bless you Mark and Melissa, thank you for opening your

hearts to us!  (Melissa and Deveraux are going to be pen pals).