Tom

Hey blog! I've been doing a terrible job of updating. After training ended, things got crazy. But, I had part of a draft saved for one of the last days of training, so here it is. I'll ramble about other things in another entry :)

On Monday we covered the Italian Market Plunge and the Kensington Plunge. Both are something we do with groups sometimes. We take them to the Italian Market or to Kensington, we set boundaries for them, give each of them two dollars, tell them to stay in groups of at least 3 people, and instruct them to go out and spend it on someone else. They get to choose if they keep their money seperate, or combine the entire group's together. The point isn't to just go buy some food or a toy or something and give it to someone. The point is to get to know someone FIRST, get to know their needs, and then get them something. So, not only did we cover the two plunges, but we did the plunge in Kensington. Originally we were going to do it at the Italian Market, but when we got there it was pretty dead because it was so early in the morning, and there weren't a whole lot of people around. So we headed on over to Kensington. Now, to give a little background on Kensington...Kensington is the poorest neighborhood in the entire state of Pennsylvania. The EL runs right through Kensington, which is a terrible thing for the area because it's loud, it blocks out light ...and I mean, who on earth wants to live or have their business by something that is gonna have loud trains coming by all the time? Who wants to live in a house where their view is a big metal track? It used to be an industrial neighborhood, with lots of factories and stuff like that, but most of those factories have been shut down and moved out to other countries. So, there's a lot of unemployment, lots of drug use, prostitution, violence, etc etc. So, anyways. We're walking around Kensington. Since I'm the one training, they let me be the assertive one. I dig, I dig. At the same time though, it's just kind of like...there are so many people...who do I approach? How do I approach them without looking like someone who just wants to give a hand out instead of a hand up? Well, we had reached the "boundary" and had crossed the street to walk down the other way. Mo asked me about going up to a guy standing up against a wall. I was like "sure!" So I went up to him and asked him how he was, all that jazz. He said he was alright, said he was hungry. I asked him if he had a favorite food and he said "Oh yeah, I like white toast and grits and hot chocolate from over there," as he pointed to a place across the street. I asked him if we could get him some and he was so excited and quickly led us across the street. Our time of fellowship with Tom was amazing. What a blessing he was. I so so SO loved getting to know Tom.
Tom used to work with horses, exercising them and doing other various tasks around the stables. He lost his job after he'd worked there for over 20 years. Now he lives in the woods. He's got some blankets and a tarp. He told us he's got a system down. He tries to get a cup of coffee before he goes to lay down for the night. Said that drinking it warms him up that little bit extra. Then he goes into the woods after 4:30 or so, cause if he goes in there before then there might be kids running around in there and they might throw rocks at him. He's got his blankets and his tarp, so if it rains or snows, the tarp keeps him from getting wet. He said one of the last times it snowed, he had to roll out from under the tarp cause he couldn't lift it up with all the snow on it. He said once he gets under there he's warm, makes it hard to get out from under them in the morning. Tom had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. I asked him about any games he liked to play, and he started talking about back in the day when he played Pinnocle and Chess. He started educating me on the ways of Chess when I confessed that I didn't know how to play. I feel confident that if we'd had a board and pieces, that he would have taught me how to play right then.
You could tell he came in the restaurant we were at a lot. The waitress knew him by name and knew what his order was.
Our time with Tom came to an end all too quickly, but the time of fellowship that we had while eating brunch with Tom was amazing. Just learning about him. Hearing about his struggles, but also hearing the joy in his voice as he ventured back to days gone by. How excited he was for hot chocolate and toast. For enough money to get him some coffee before going to bed that night. For a piece of gum. For an opportunity to be heard.
I'm blessed to have Tom as a neighbor and a friend. And I don't know if we'll ever cross paths again, but the time I had with him was time well spent. A time I'll always cherish.
Where ever he may be now, I hope he's warm. I hope he got some coffee before bed. I hope he knows he isn't alone. I hope he knows that he's got a lot to offer this world.
And I hope you know that, too.

Hugs and love,
Emily and Mr. Sanchez