Sunday, March 25, 2018

Reaching out when someone is hungry

At various intersections across the greater Toronto area, there are often folks who will walk between cars stopped at a red light to ask for money. Sometimes, if I have some change, I will give it to them, hoping that they use the money wisely instead of buying a pack of smokes.

The problem these days is that I rarely use cash to pay for anything. I am often using my debit card to pay for purchases. Sometimes, I pay using a credit card.

On Saturday, it was different. There was a man at the intersection that I was stopped at. He was holding a sign saying that he was "very hungry."

The thought that someone is hungry is horrible.

I don't recall his sign saying that he wanted money. Hungry was all that was in my head.

On Friday night, I had stopped by a Starbucks on my way home to buy a two-pack of dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I quickly remembered that it was in my purse. I had used my mobile app to pay for this item, which had a label with my first name on it and the date when I had purchased it.

I grabbed the package, rolled down my window, and handed it to the man. He seemed genuinely thankful.
"Thank you. God bless you. Have a good weekend," he said, cracking a smile.
"You, too," I replied.
The traffic light turned green. I drove off. I saw the man on the cement island, opening the package and eating. It made my day knowing that I helped someone out because I could.

4 comments:

  1. That's wonderful. I try to help the people in need to go around "selling" packets of tissue paper at the food courts too. Often they are elderly and hunched over and it's terribly expensive to pay a dollar for tissue, but hey, if it helps someone, then why not right?

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  2. i try to help the people i see in the food courts selling tissue paper packets. it's expensive to pay a dollar for a packet, but if it helps someone then why not... usually they are elderly and hunched over, and i find myself thinking i wish they didn't have to go from table to table like that.

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    Replies
    1. Good for you! I agree that if contributing something helps someone in need, it makes a difference. =)

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    2. darn i'm sorry that comment came out twice. i thought blogger had eaten up the first one.

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