Walking the Walk

  Day 2 in San Diego is done.  I am so excited by all the things Bekah and I are getting to do!  Today we had the opportunity to volunteer at the San Diego Coalition for the Homeless, which was so amazing.  

  The coalition is run out of a Nazarene Church, and they feed more than 750 people a week!  There were about 30 volunteers working today (counting me and Bekah), and these volunteers love to have fun!

  One guy kept telling jokes, literally he told joke after joke!  Here's one that I thought was really funny:

                 Guy: Have you ever seen a man brush his teeth and whistle at the same time?

                 Me: No, I don't think so.

                 Him: I have! My Grandpa used to take his teeth out like this, and whistle while he brushed                  

                 them!

Yeah... yeah, that one still makes me laugh!

  When the people started coming in to get food, my job was to keep the table holding the crackers and cookies stocked, while simultaneously "guarding" said pile of restocking materials from people who would try to take extra boxes of food.  The thing I loved about this job was that I go to speak with each and every person that passed by.  I loved getting to say "Hi, how are you?"  and hear their answers which ranged from, "Wonderful! and yourself?" to "Well, you know, it's another day."  There are so many stories behind each of their answers, and I wish I had gotten the opportunity to hear them all.

  Working at the Coalition reminded me of when I would work at my church's food pantry West Avenue Compassion.  We also give the people of our community as much fresh produce, bread, and dairy products as possible, while also giving out whatever canned and boxed items we have.  However, what I love about WAC and the Coalition isn't what they give out to the people, it's how excited they are to be Jesus' hands and feet in their communities.  They not only 'talk the talk', but they also "walk the walk'!  I love that there are people all over the country who have this heart and mindset, and I love that I've gotten to meet so many, and will get to meet so many more as we all walk the walk together!  :)

Rebekah

                                                  This is me waiting to start setting up.

                                                          Bekah was busy packing chicken!

                         This is William, he was one of the people in charge of running the Coalition

                People came in through that door in the back to get the food.  There is yogurt inside the
                cardboard crates on the left, and I swear we bagged at least 500 cucumbers, which are on the
                table on the right.

                              The lady in the yellow shirt is Candace.  She was the coordinator of the Coalition,        
                               and she was super fabulous!

                                    This is Oliver packing the cucumbers.... definitely a huge job!

                                See what I mean?!! (each bag had 8 cucumbers in it... you do the math!)

                                             Some of the crackers and cookies I "guarded"

                                                             Mount ah la yogurt ;)

Accidentally fell over :/

                        All the guys who were distributing the melons kept yelling out "Melllllllllons! Come get    
                                  a melllllon!!!  Icy cold melllllon!" haha it was wonderfully entertaining :D

                          And of course, Bekah found a baby ;) she held this little girl for the entire time!
                                                     Believe me, her mom loved the break!

        And finally, this is Me, William, Bekah, and baby Rebeka (yeah, her name was Rebekah too!)