Stefanie Allison, DRE
Sandy Urbanczyk, Nursery Coordinator
UUFEC Youth Group’s
Experience
Helping to Feed the Homeless
By Ivanna Koziy, Ukranian exchange student, UUFEC youth group participant, and
RE program volunteer
Year after year goes by and each one brings us new adventures, experiences, and memories. These winter holidays are a special time when family usually comes together and people share with one another. It’s the time of year when we especially appreciate our family and friends, and we may realize that life would be much harder without them and their support. During a recent youth meeting, we discussed the topics of kindness and happiness. Somehow we got into talking about homeless people. We all were shocked when we learned that a hands-on count conducted in January, 2008, located 1,752 homeless individuals in Okaloosa and Walton Counties. Over one-third of these were children under the age of 18. Wanting to help in whatever way we could, we decided to assist volunteers at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in FWB feed breakfast to the homeless. Even though all of us had to wake up at about 4:30 on Sunday morning, we still did it. When we entered the church, we were met by lovely people who gave us a tour and explained how the morning would go. Homeless individuals would come in and sign up for whatever they wanted to do. They could take a shower, get a haircut, get some clothes, and get breakfast. The schedule for showers was really tough; everyone had only 7 minutes, and after that time they had to leave the bathroom. I was assigned to help serve the food. There were three things that especially touched me on that day. One was this man, who came really early and looked very exhausted. He smiled, got his plate of food and went to find a place to sit down. A couple of minutes later, I glanced at him. He was sitting alone, with an empty plate in front of him. He was just sitting there and looking into nowhere. His look was full of...some kind of disappointment, or sadness. At this time another lady from the kitchen saw him and asked if he would like to have some more food. You had to see how he changed after he heard those words. He smiled. His look changed as well. This time it was a look of appreciation and gratitude. He came to the kitchen and got his second plate. He thanked us again, stayed there for a couple of seconds and went back to sit. I will never forget that look and the feelings it caused within me. I would never have believed that a person could be so happy just from getting an extra meal. I thought of myself and of my life. I have a great family. I have a house to live in. I have some places where I could go and people would be happy to see me, and I still find some stuff to complain about. But this one guy that morning caused me to look at my life from a different angle. Another thing that I noticed there debunked all my stereotypes of homeless people. Usually I would try to avoid them because I thought they were really rude and violent people. In fact, they are not! All of them used polite phrases. They would stay in line and wait for their turn. They all were very affable and friendly. Another person who greatly affected me was a young lady there. She was packing her fairly new sleeping bag and seemed to be really happy to get it. After she was done packing it, she took her old blanket and went to the group of men who were still sitting inside watching TV. “I’ve got a new sleeping bag,” she said, “and I still have this blanket. It is not new but it can keep you warm during cold nights. You can have it.” She turned around and went back to her seat. Can you imagine that? Everything she had was just a sleeping bag and a blanket, and she shared with others. We have all kinds of stuff in our wardrobes, but when it comes to sharing... do we kind of forget about it or what? It was a beautiful Sunday. I learned a lot. And I remembered this saying: “I cannot do a lot, but I can do a little. If I can do only a little, it doesn’t mean that I don't have to do anything at all.”