Al&#039;s Outreach Outtakes

March 13, 2021

I am not in the office on Mondays and last week happened to not be in on Tuesday. When I got in on Wednesday, I had nineteen voicemails waiting. Many were associated with the successful emergency dental van we hosted on March 5th. It is not uncommon for many of the calls I receive to have area codes that I am not familiar with as people new to the area often need help. As I worked my way through the list of numbers, I again experienced an unfamiliar area code; dialed it and waited for a response. I identified myself and was told that the individual had had an appointment with us the night before at 6pm, but no one was here. I explained that’s because we are not open at that time. I asked if they had been here before or if they were in our database. They assured me they were so I attempted to look them up. No luck. They suggested I try their roommates name; again, no luck. I asked who referred them to us and was told the Food Bank. Plausible enough so I asked for an address so that perhaps I could try to figure out who they really were supposed to have seen at 6pm. 14105 78th ave. was the response. Southwest, Northeast—which 78th Ave.? I suppose it is Southwest, she said. Now I knew something was really odd so I asked, where are you right now? Alberta, she said. I am not familiar with that I said, Alberta what? Ontario, Canada came the reply. Honestly folks, I don’t make this stuff up.

Later that day one of the volunteers asked me to come outside. There was a homeless man looking for some assistance beyond food. I introduced myself and learned his name was John. I quickly noticed he had socks over his shoes and his clothes were dirty and worn. While difficult to hear him very well through his mask, it was clear he had lost several of his teeth. John said he was looking for a little help with clothing. We had a few items and also gave him a Fred Meyer gift card and bus passes along with as much food as he could take with him. As he was expressing his gratitude, he asked what time services were. I told him and explained our Covid requirements, which he acknowledged. When he turned to leave, he stopped and asked if we could pray. He lead us in a beautiful, gratitude filled prayer that was laced with blessings for those dealing with Covid, nothing about himself. It was an unexpected blessed moment. Please pray for him.