Kay's anecdote

A personal experience after attending the Faith in Action With Our Homeless event 

After a long day of volunteering at this wonderful event I was hurrying to my car looking forward to getting home for a well deserved rest. During the event I had noticed a woman who looked remarkably like my younger sister who is afflicted with schizophrenia. Same long brown hair, tall with the same body build, missing teeth, and brown eyes. 

Over the years my sister has been a trial for all of us siblings, to say the least. This woman attended one of the work sessions I was in and I heard her speak of being forced to move into a shelter recently.  As I was heading to the car I saw her out of the corner of my eye and picked up my step since my instinct was to avoid her since I didn't want to deal with a long conversation that would be reminiscent of past frustrations with my sister. But then the gems of wisdom I learned during the day must have moved me to slow down and ask her if she felt safe in the shelter she had moved to. Indeed this did open an extended story of her trials and troubles that deprived her of a rented apartment for she and her son. As we stood on the sidewalk she poured out her distress that the former landlord had refused to give back her belongings. 

When I asked what was most important that she hoped to recover she responded that her photo albums were her greatest loss, especially photos of her son. By this time I had forgotten how tired I was, just truly feeling her loss and sadness. I said with true empathy "in case of a fire photo albums are the first thing we grab and run with.” She stopped suddenly and said with emotion "I just need to hug you!" After we hugged and exchanged names we went our separate ways.

Her whole demeanor had changed from dark and worried to a radiant joyful smile. Could such brief empathy have really caused this miracle? It seems so. Would I have reacted differently to her before the event I had just attended ? Most definitely. I have much to learn but without a doubt I took away from the event a lot that has opened my eyes and heart to the homeless in our community. 

Kay Kelly