Day 68 - Give a homeless person a clean blanket.

My goal this past weekend was to complete this deed and give a homeless person a clean blanket. To be honest, I've been holding back from completing this for a while, because quite frankly I didn't know where to begin and I also didn't want to approach a random person on the street not knowing if I would offend them or not.

 Of course the weekend passed by and I was not able to accomplish the deed but late Sunday evening I went to get a late-night snack and while pulling into the McDonald’s drive thru I noticed a homeless person sleeping on the cement sidewalk on the side of the street; I felt horrible when I saw them laying on the cold ground with nothing but the clothes on their backs and I knew it was an ideal opportunity to finally complete this particular deed.

I went to the nearest Walgreens and bought a fleece blanket along with a travel size pillow; all the while countless thoughts racing through my head "what if they are offended?", "what if they are aggressive?", "what if they are callous?”.  I couldn’t control my anxiety and my boyfriend definitely didn't have the answers to comfort me at that moment (I obviously would have never attempted to do this in the middle of the night with him not being with me).

When I arrived at the location, I got off the car and slowly approached the homeless person who I found out was a woman, she started moving and looked up at me. As I held out the items in my hand, in a subtle tone I stated to her that I saw her lying there and thought she would like a clean blanket and pillow so I went and bought some for her. With a baffled look on her face, in a hoarse but brittle voice she said “no”; as I insisted and went to lay them down on the floor she looked at me as if she knew I meant no harm and once again said “no, thank you”.  At that moment I could tell that she clearly wasn’t going to accept anything from me and I shouldn’t cross my boundaries so I took a deep breath and went back to my car.  
When I returned to my car I was overcome with emotions and the tears didn’t stop coming; not because she didn’t accept the items but because I was entirely heartbroken for her. Sure I had seen homeless people in the past but never one lying on the cold ground by a main highway. I tried to erase the image from my mind but for the rest of the night all I could think about was her, I couldn’t even eat my fries and tossed them out. I know that all homeless people are not helpless and most of them have done immoral things in their lives and that's why they ended up where they are, but no matter how much a person has sinned in their life; they deserve a warm bed to sleep in at night or at least a blanket and a pillow.

I will attempt to complete the deed again and today I also signed up with the Miami Rescue Mission to feed the homeless and help with anything that I can. I look forward to my orientation on Saturday, May 18^th, 2013; I will update you as soon as I attend. Also, if any of you are in the Miami area, I urge you to look at the flyer below and help in anyway that you can with Operation Hope Tote, every little thing counts!♥

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” - Mother Teresa♥