KENT DEUCK/2003
Some moments make it all worth while…
A big day at the dropin yesterday. Our annual christmas party took place and it was wonderful. Our center was jam packed with wonderful people from our community. Volunteers came from our supporting churches to help with the meal. We had a bunch of raffles for stuff that local businesses had donated in order to make christmas happier for our kids. Most kids put in their names into draws that could get them something for themselves–a noble enough thing. When the time came for the draw for the barbie doll a name was drawn; it was a boy that won the draw. When his name was drawn the crowd erupted with laughter at what they thought was a mistake. There was a degree of confidence in this boys walk to the front to get his prize but it was dampened by the chiding and laughter. When he got to the front, he whispered to our staff that he had put his name into that draw so that he had a gift to give to his little sister. He could have used a gift himself, as our kids, living in Canada’s most poverty stricken community, don’t enjoy the kinds of excess that most of us know at christmas.
Despite the ongoing heckling from his peers, that boy went around clinging to that barbie as if he had just received the greatest gift on earth. His gift–was something to give.
The urban poor have many lessons to teach us. What if we were that excited to receive all the blessings that we have in our lives–excited cuz we were just going to pay it forward to someone that needed it more than us.
This is just another reason we love doing our work and one more reason why I think I have a lot more to learn from the poor.
Merry Christmas and “Pay it forward”