Redbud and a Greyhound
On the evening of April 27, a group of seven CCAH Faith in Action workers met The Night Ministry Health Outreach bus at its stop in Pilsen. The bus pulled up a few minutes before 9:00 pm and the small plaza at 18th and Blue Island Avenue quickly filled with those from the neighborhood who live “on the street”. The serving table was set up and within fifteen minutes everyone had received one of the 110 sack suppers donated by CCAH members. This community that comes together for an hour on three nights of the week visited and shared a simple meal together. Beside the meal, we brought two other things with us on that night. Judi Frost had cut many small branches from her flowering shrubs and placed them in a big bucket of water as a centerpiece amid the rows of sack suppers. The fragrance of redbud and other spring blossoms brought smiles to many faces and those smiles broadened when Judi invited people to pluck a blossom to take with them…..a piece of the beauty of God’s creation to bring a moment of joy to lives that we might find unbeautiful. Also accompanying us was Terry and Lynn Iker’s majestic white greyhound. As Terry and his dog strolled among the clusters of people, the language barrier that was preventing communication between Anglo and Hispanic seemed to disappear. Everyone could relate to a greyhound dog, commenting on his appearance, asking about his history. Just being there in his silence, the greyhound helped to foster the feeling of goodwill that marked the evening.
Thank you to Terry and Lynn Iker, Judi Frost, Christy Tempo, Wendy Munnell, Kirk Imoto, and Jack Sturgeon for going on-site in Pilsen. That group was joined by Dorothy Bloethe, Doris Riegel, and Larry Knight to assemble the sack suppers at CCAH earlier in the evening. Pat Sturgeon served a delicious meal to all these workers after all the sack suppers were made. And once again, all the contents of the sack suppers were donated by members of CCAH.
We plan to select a date in late July for the next trip to help The Night Ministry. Contact Jack Sturgeon if you want to help.