Day 2 Degage Ministries Feddema

Today, we did basically the same thing as yesterday. We walked into the building and waited to talk to the main desk runner and right away I was greeted by a man I now know as George, "Hey Gabe!" That was super great, that someone remembered me. Throughout the day, we worked behind the counter, opening lockers for people, selling them razors, long johns, shirts, gloves, etc. for low amounts of money. I also would put soap and tokens into the washing machines when people needed them, and most often, check for people's mail. The thing I actually really liked though was when we didn't have anything to do, and we could talk or watch the people. Today a writer for a dog article showed up because apparently almost everyday they bring these huge dogs in to interact with the consumers. It was super cool to watch this man that was obviously out of his comfort zone, going around asking people that are a ton less fortunate than him how they feel about dogs and how the dogs they bring in there make them feel. It was also very interesting to watch the dog interacting with the people. No judgement, he just goes up to them. Well of course he does, because he's a dog! But I think we should take an example from that. One the last things that happened was a man enthusiastically thanking us for being there, and saying he better see us everyday for the next two weeks. That made me feel great. 

One thing I learned today about homelessness is that people aren't really as greedy or selfish as a lot of us think they are. There was this man there, waiting to go into one of the offices, and he wasn't a very "welcoming" looking man. In all honesty, he scared me a little bit. (At the end of the day he ended up yelling and storming out of the place, for reasons I'm still not sure about.) Anyway, you could tell that he wasn't liked very much by the other people either. But at one point, his name was called to go take a shower. He got up, and his hat flew up off of him, he didn't notice and continued walking. I swear, the whole place made a heavenly eruption. "Wait! You forgot your hat!" "Harry, you forgot your hat!" "Mr, your hat fell off!!" Everyone in the room was making sure he didn't leave without his hat. He must have been a little hard of hearing, because he just kept on walking, so the next thing you knew someone literally jumped up, grabbed his hat, and brought it to him. Another way I realized how good these people actually are is by all the thanks they were saying. I don't think I ever had it where I helped someone and they didn't say thank you. Even if I couldn't help them, or didn't know the answer to their question, they still would be so grateful. They are really good people. How come it took me so long to notice? .