Needs a little vanilla...

The City Rescue Mission of Lansing is a faith ministry. What that means is that we do not have any "steady" sources of revenue, i.e. grants, federal/state funds, etc. All our services are provided solely by donations. Bottom line: people choose to give.

What this also means is that sometimes we come pretty close to scraping the bottom of the barrel, but we never have. As our executive director likes to say, "We make people aware of our needs, and if they feel God desires them to give, they do."

A few weeks ago, Roger, our director of operations needed to go make a run to one of our supporting churches. This church keeps one of our yellow "Mission barrels" in their lobby. There are a few churches and organizations in the area who host these food collection barrels for us. Volunteer drivers or our director of operations will make a run out to empty them as the need arises (see our website homepage, www.lcrm.org, for video).

This day, Roger happened to notice, as he was picking up the bags from the barrel, a bottle of vanilla was laying all by itself. He tucked it into a bag, and as he left the building to continue his errands, he thought about that bottle of vanilla. It's not a usual donation; most items we get are boxed or canned goods. He wondered just how they were going to use that solitary bottle of vanilla.

As he arrived back at the Mission and began unloading, Kevin, one of the cooks, walked past from the kitchen.

"I'm heading out to the store, Roger," he said, "I need to pick up a bottle of vanilla."

Imagine his surprise when Roger reached into a bag and handed him the vanilla. Such a small, ordinary thing that symbolizes the amazing experience of relying every day on the Lord's provision. Whoever gave that bottle could hardly imagine it would arrive at the perfect time. But that's what God's timing always is, perfect.

Abundantly Above All We Ask or Think

If you look in the news, you’ll have to search hard to find anything that will bring you hope. Job loss, economic crisis, foreign wars, internal conflicts, all this exists, and very few believe that the oft-touted goal of “world peace” is even achievable. I’m a bit of a skeptic myself, I admit. More “glass half empty” in my view toward the world and strangers I have yet to meet. But you can’t work for the City Rescue Mission, or volunteer here for even a day, without being overwhelmed by the truth that compassion does exist. I wish I could transport everyone to that moment when you’re being run off your feet by people desiring to give to others in need. To be there to scratch your head and wonder where we can put the food that is donated to pack the pantry and fill baskets for those who are struggling this holiday season. We’re all struggling, and that’s the truth. The recession has touched everyone in some way. But when things seem the darkest, that’s when you find the true measure of a person’s character. And the character of a people defines the character of a a nation. From where I sit, we really have very little to worry about.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory..." Ephesians 3:20, 21a

A Can of Pringles

I hope I never stop being surprised by life. Or overcome by generosity. Caught up in joy.

Today, a little girl arrived with her mom. Clutched in her hand was a Pringles can. But the jingle inside wasn't from chips. For the whole of this year, Makayla had collected part of her allowance in that Pringles can. "For the homeless," were the words carefully printed on yellow paper and taped to the side. She was so excited.

"Some of the bills are a little crushed," her mother explained, and the words brought to mind the image of an eight year old carefully counting and re-counting every dollar and every coin, for a whole year.

Earlier this week, another girl named Emily had stopped by to donate money raised from cards she and her sister handmade. A sweet smile on her face, she proudly posed for her picture.

What a blessing to be able to experience their joy and excitement and that innocent pleasure that comes from giving to someone else in need. We are grateful for both these girls, their hard work and sacrifice, and also for their parents, who are teaching them already the lesson of compassion.

Generosity and Compassion...not superiority

Recently, I heard of an article which ran as an op-ed in the New York Times. The writer of this article (SONJA LYUBOMIRSKY, in the interests of proper source citation) has this to say:

"...Findings like these reveal an all-too-human truth. We care more about social comparison, status and rank than about the absolute value of our bank accounts or reputations.
For example, Andrew Clark, an economist in France, has recently shown that being laid off hurts less if you live in a community with a high unemployment rate. What’s more, if you are unemployed, you will, on average, be happier if your spouse is unemployed, too.
So in a world in which just about all of us have seen our retirement savings and home values plummet, it’s no wonder that we all feel surprisingly O.K."

I.e. The reason we aren't panicking in despair and making a run on our bank isn't because we've decided not to make the mistakes made in the Great Depression, but instead it is because we're okay with being in a recession, as long as everyone else is hurting too...

The reason I am haunted by this article is that I am offended on behalf of every person who comes to the door with a donation. Today, for example, we had several calls from people concerned about the cold weather. They wondered if we had a need of coats for those who come to the shelter; they were going through their closets to get all the extra coats and warm jackets they could find. A man dropped by and left a blanket. He didn't want a receipt; he didn't leave a name. Just a blanket. A woman dropped off 71 hand crocheted neck warmers and made sure to point out some people waiting outside our doors who could use one right away.

This isn't an unusual occurrence. For us it happens every day. So I'm supposed to believe we live in a magic bubble where people are concerned about those who are less fortunate, no matter that they too are in need? Or am I supposed to believe that the woman living on social security who sends us two dollars every month is only doing so out of a sense of superiority?

Yes, I am offended. On behalf of all those who give so generously and with such compassion. The Mission may not have the voice of the New York Times, but we do want our supporters, and the many in this country who give so generously to service agencies like ours, to know that we see your generosity. We understand that our country is great because of that generosity. Thank you on behalf of all whom you help. And God bless you.