What a great night!!

As I mentioned before, Friday night we went to Bridgetown. I'll try to set the stage for you.

We met up at our church. We picked out what station we wanted to help out with. Foot washing, hair washing, serving food, clothing, or hosting a table. Natalie and I thought we would feel most comfortable at the clothing station. One of the bridgetown leaders comes over to explain our task for the evening. He starts out by saying that this is going to the be the "hot" spot tonight! It has been raining very hard for the past couple of days; they are going to be looking for some warm, dry clothes. He also tells us that if anyone starts to get aggressive with us to dish it back to them. And if that doesn't work just walk away and find a leader. Aggressive!!!?? And, we were only allowed to give them one piece of clothing from each bin. Don't let them take more! (Oh boy, what are we in for.) The good news is we had one guy on our team and we designated him as the bodyguard!

After we were told about our task we all came back together and sang a song, prayed and drove down to Portland.

We couldn't set-up under the bridge because the sweeper was going to be coming and we needed to be out of the way. Oh, did I tell you that is still raining out!! Fortunately there was a big huge white tent set-up that we could use! At the back of the tent was the clothing line, in the middle was the food (Chicken Noodle Soup was the meal I think - it looked so good!!) and a bunch of tables for them to sit down to eat, and at the front there was the foot washing station, hair cut & wash, and there was even a station for the guys to shave if they wanted.

Natalie and I are back at our station to hand out clothing but they never really told us how to do it. Oh but one of the homeless guys sure knew what were suppose to do. "Mens on one table. Womens on the other and we walk through." While we were setting up I was noticing that some of the guys were already starting to get aggressive!! One of them was yelling and complaining that this was wrong that we were under this tent and not under the bridge and that sweeper doesn't come until late at night. And the another one kept saying I am first in line, the line starts here!! I just felt so much pressure and still had no idea what I was really suppose to be doing. We get our bins all set up and we get the guys to line up on one side and the girls to line up on the other and we begin. Oh, did I tell you it is dark!! So, there was a little light but not enough light to read sizes.

I stand in front of the mens jeans/pants and the mittens & hats. And we started!! I had so much fun!!!!! I know, can you believe it!!? I had a blast! I met some very cool people! Good thing one of the rules is "Don't take them home with you". My heart is too big and I could have taken one guy home with me! And the women that are homeless just break my heart!! Why are they out here?!! I just had so many questions!

There was this big (round) black guy that stood at the end of the table and was asking for a size 42 pair of pants. I am looking at all these jeans for his size. And I can't find a size 42. Meanwhile I am helping other guys try to find pants and getting them gloves and hats. I get down to about 5 pairs of jeans and this black guy is still standing there asking me if I found a 42 yet. He was telling us how he had a bum leg and couldn't get around very well. Then I had this other guy come up and he was telling me that he had a girlfriend back at the tent by the river freezing and he needed to bring her some clothes back. I helped him find clothes for himself and then I showed him the womens section. All of sudden my size 42 friend starts telling me that he has an old man back at his tent and he needs to bring him a size 43!! I know he is pulling my leg - so I start playing along. I say "Oh really, why is he not here" "He is sick and couldn't come" Anyway this big story keeps going on and I just blow it off because I am only suppose to give them one item each.

I am looking and re-looking for a size 42 for him. And he starts saying "Please God let there be a size 42." All of sudden I find a 42!! And I let out a big ol' scream and get all excited for him and he got all excited and said "Thank you Jesus!" I am not kidding, he practically skipped away on that bum leg!! He was so excited!!!

I talked to a few more guys that night and they all broke my heart. One of the guys that I was talking to had a wedding ring on. He was telling me that his wife is pregnant and she is sick right now. So, she was at Women's shelter. She was about to move into an apartment and he would be able to move in with her. She was pregnant with a little boy and he had a name picked out for him. He was naming him after himself and he is a Junior so the baby was going be the third. He told me that he hasn't been able to tell his Dad that he is going to be a Grandpa because he travels a lot and was in between moving.

The next guy I talked looked like he was in 20s very well kept up. Good looking clean kid. He comes over and starts talking to the guy standing by me helping out with the clothing. And his story starts out real sad. He lived in LA and he was kicked out of his house. Living on the streets in LA was rough so he snuck on a greyhound bus and came to Portland. He signed up for the navy but had 4 weeks until he could start. So, he was sleeping under bridges until then. He keeps talking and pretty soon he is telling us how he robbed 2 banks when he was 17. He was telling us how he did it!! How he was sent to some prison and what that was like. After he left I looked at the guy he was talking to and said "What part of that story was true?" And the guy says, I wished I could of recorded that. Wild story!

(I only have one more story and then I'll stop!)

We are starting to pack up our bins and leave. This guy comes over and tells us that he just got a job and needs a pair of pants. I only had one pair left and they were HUGE! My size 42 friend would have drowned in them! And I told him that I only had one pair left and that he was going to swim in them. And, I started small talk asking him where he is working. New York Burrito. And he just took the conversation from there. We talked and talked. Everyone cleaned up around us and pretty soon it is just me and him standing there talking. He use to live in Switzerland, he went to high school there. Very smart guy. He was clean shaven and dressed in nice clothes. He said that he ended up on the streets because of gin. He was in rehab right now and had a job making burritos. I shouldn't say making he called it assembling burritos. He was so funny!! He was telling me how he had some friends that were letting him sleep in their car. Tonight was going to be his first night to sleep somewhere warm and dry. Meanwhile the group I came with had cleaned up everything. Jesse and seen us so he came over and we talked some more. They talked politics, you name it we talked about it! The group was starting to leave and head back to their vehicles and he noticed and so we said our good byes and he went to go sleep in this car and we were headed home. His name was Jeff!

Saturday I was suppose to be finishing up a book (I had book club that night!) and I couldn't read. I just kept thinking about all the people I had met. Jesse told me that we can go again this Friday. I looked at our calendar and we don't have anything scheduled!!! And, they are doing a whole Thanksgiving meal for them!!!! Cooking 6 turkeys!! They plan of feeding 300 that night!! I think I might need to go to see if these guys are still okay!!