On Tuesdays I go help out at the soup kitchen and shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity here in town. Lately I have been on "food pick-up" duty which means I drive over to the supermarket and collect their expired packaged food or wilted produce in grocery carts, load it up into a vehicle (hopefully one large enough to fit all the boxes of food) and then bring it back. (The manager laughs when he sees me--he figures the Sisters must really be desperate to send puny old me to carry all those heavy boxes!)
The Sisters feed anywhere between 60 to 130 folks a day on reject grocery store items, themselves included. So it is definitely worth the effort.
Today I had three cart-loads and was getting a little worried about being able to manage it all alone to be able to get it down the ramp to where I can load it up into the Sisters' suburban. I was just about to leave when one of the workers notified me that I had overlooked some items. "Those! Those!" she pointed to a grocery cart full of roses. Not just a bouquet or two of drooping blossoms like we typically get, but about a dozen gorgeous bouquets of roses of all colors that were barely fading. Plenty of red.
It actually took me a minute. I started loading it all up and became distracted, wondering how I could manage an even bigger load than I already had...until I realized: it is October 1st, Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux!
For any readers who might not be familiar, St. Therese is nicknamed "The Little Flower" and is known to "shower down roses" (her words) as a sign that prayers are being heard. At any rate, I didn't have to explain this to the Sisters when I returned with my load of food for the day.
"Guess what I have in the truck?" I said, as I pulled into the garage. "Roses! Lots and lots of roses."
"Ah, it is St. Therese!" they said, not at all surprised. Okay, two of them did raise their eyebrows a bit and smile. But really, I can't say that it was surprise...they just seemed happy.
The Sisters feed anywhere between 60 to 130 folks a day on reject grocery store items, themselves included. So it is definitely worth the effort.
Today I had three cart-loads and was getting a little worried about being able to manage it all alone to be able to get it down the ramp to where I can load it up into the Sisters' suburban. I was just about to leave when one of the workers notified me that I had overlooked some items. "Those! Those!" she pointed to a grocery cart full of roses. Not just a bouquet or two of drooping blossoms like we typically get, but about a dozen gorgeous bouquets of roses of all colors that were barely fading. Plenty of red.
It actually took me a minute. I started loading it all up and became distracted, wondering how I could manage an even bigger load than I already had...until I realized: it is October 1st, Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux!
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For any readers who might not be familiar, St. Therese is nicknamed "The Little Flower" and is known to "shower down roses" (her words) as a sign that prayers are being heard. At any rate, I didn't have to explain this to the Sisters when I returned with my load of food for the day.
"Guess what I have in the truck?" I said, as I pulled into the garage. "Roses! Lots and lots of roses."
"Ah, it is St. Therese!" they said, not at all surprised. Okay, two of them did raise their eyebrows a bit and smile. But really, I can't say that it was surprise...they just seemed happy.
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