(Chicago) – I know this post is long overdue. But this is worth sharing. So bear with me. 🙂
Last Christmas, I decided to join a group of impressive young friends to distribute food to the homeless in Chicago. Winter in this city is no joke. It’s brutal, especially to those homeless people who only have boxes and tattered blankets to protect themselves.
So we pooled some money from other concerned friends; got some sandwiches, bananas, juice drinks and coffee; and drove around downtown area early in the morning on Christmas day, to hand out food to those we found sleeping in the streets. Afterwards, we headed to a shelter to share the rest of the food.
Akala ko sa Pilipinas lang maraming kapus-palad, but I’m surprised to see hundreds of people in Chicago who have no means of celebrating Christmas at all because they lack the basic necessities in life such as shelter and food. For us who are blessed by God in numerous ways, the least thing we can do is to share these blessings in whatever capacity we can. I don’t want to sound preachy here but this act of sharing was just personally liberating and fulfilling to me. Kung masarap ang kumain, mas masarap makita ang ngiti ng ibang tao na salat sa buhay na may nalalasahang pagkain lalo na kung Pasko. Food is such a powerful tool in reaching out to others.
Here are some photos from the event. Kudos to Zey Ferrando, Sau-Divine Gasapo Bajamunde, Shailani Lucas, Doreen Izquierdo, Henry Izquierdo, Wayne Tulayba, Alex Bermudez and Gil Marquez. More power and continue spreading the essence of Christmas in meaningful, tangible ways.
- Frozen Lake Michigan during winter
- At the shelter
- Don’t under-estimate these sandwiches. This Christmas meal made a lot of people happy that day.
