I was invited by an old college friend to volunteer with his church to prepare and hand out food at a local homeless shelter. We met at the church and prepared soup and a sack lunch with sandwich, apple and cookies in it. We then caravan across town to Humility of Mary Shelter where we ladled soup into cups and handed the sack lunches out to those who wanted food. We had the soup on the tailgate of a truck to ladle up and there were several of us standing there ready to hand out the sacks of food. It was amazing the amount of people there that need such a service.
Humility of Mary Shelter is just one of many shelters in the Quad Cities area serving those who are struggling through life. This was such an eye opener for me. I had no idea there were such a high number of homeless in the area. I guess I’ve been naive in this area of thinking. When I think of hungry, homeless and poor people I think of 3rd world countries. I always knew we had homeless and hungry people in the states I just never knew how many. Statistics say there are 10,000 homeless children in the state of Iowa. That number only covers the children!
I encourage you to make a difference in the lives of those in need, in and around your community. What can you do to help?
Learning to Deal 
#1 by Robert Kachinsky on February 28, 2012 - 8:52 am
Great post and great job!
10,000 homeless children in Iowa alone…
We will do our best to help spread the word.
#2 by thescoundrel on March 8, 2012 - 4:59 am
The Oasis in East Moline offer free meals once a week, plus is open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays where the needy can come in to select donated clothing and other household goods. Some days they also have donated food item to give away. If you know anyone in that area it is a good place to send them.
#3 by tjalexander on March 8, 2012 - 5:40 am
You must be close by, Thanks for stopping by neighbor and thanks for the info! 🙂
#4 by thescoundrel on March 9, 2012 - 2:38 am
Your welcome.
Yeah EM is my neighbor. I sometimes help out at the Oasis. A helpful thing to remember is that on Fridays they often have fresh fruit and vegetables donations that they hand out.