Can't Buy Me Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

time making ends meet, since we get a lot more
folks coming in to get warm and get a hot meal. But we make it. And Lena gets
out and does what she can to bring in grant funds for the big stuff. Like two
years ago, we had a fire in the kitchen. Wiped out the entire room – took out
appliances, cabinets – everything. We kept going by serving nothing but soup
and sandwiches for months, while Lena found the money to rebuild. Now, thanks
to the generosity of a handful of people, we’re feeding twice the number of
people we did before the fire. And with this economy, it’s needed.”
    They'd
reached the kitchen, and Chase looked around him in surprise. It was large, but
it was also warm and clean and bustling with people who seemed genuinely happy
to be there. Watching the staff moving about the room, he asked, “So it’s
mostly a place to get a meal?”
    But
Frank shook his head. “There’s definitely the soup kitchen component, and it’s
one of our biggest ministries. But Helping Hands goes way beyond feeding
people. We offer housing for up to eight families at a time, allowing homeless
parents to keep their kids with them, and to keep them all off the streets. We
have individual beds available to single people or for small families for
limited time periods, but we’re cautious about that, since we don’t want kids
in with the general public for long. We make exceptions in the winter – we don’t
like turning people away when the temperatures drop, so we usually reconfigure
spaces, and just segregate men from the women and children.”
    Grabbing
a small piece of cheese from a pile of cubed cheddar on a cutting board, Frank
grinned as the woman cutting a large hunk into smaller pieces whacked him on
the hand with a spatula and grinned back at him.
    He
continued. “We also provide help with job hunts, we have an interview wardrobe
room available so people can look professional when they are job hunting, and
we have computer training and job training. We require people who stay here to
be drug-free, alcohol-free, and to contribute to the center in some way. It may
be volunteering for a few hours a week, it may be a small financial
contribution if they are working part-time, or it may be mentoring or tutoring
new arrivals.”
    “And
you don’t have problems with security?”
    “Oh
sure we do. But we have a lot of burly volunteers, and we have the local cops
on speed dial. They know us, and often stop in for hot coffee and to give us a
police presence from time to time. For the most part, our problems are kept to
a minimum. Our worst days are when the temperature drops so low that our
population gets crowded, or the days when the temperature is in the high nineties,
when everyone’s tempers are frayed.”
    “I’m
impressed so far,” Chase said, and realized that he was. His idea of a homeless
shelter was night and day different from this place, and he was surprised to
realize that he wanted to know a lot more. “So how can you use me?” he asked.
    Frank
nodded, pleased that Chase was still interested in helping out. “I’d like to
start you out in the kitchen – it’s where we start most of our new volunteers. Gives
you a feel for the movement of the place. But after that, we want you working
where you feel most comfortable and most called. Some people gravitate toward
computer training, some toward kitchen duty. You, I’m thinking may be able to
help out a bit in the office, given the skills you described over the phone. But
let’s see if you like the place, and think it’ll be a good fit before we assign
you anywhere. If you don’t run kicking and screaming from the place in a couple
of days, we can do a better job of matching you up.”
    “Sounds
good.”
    “How
much time can you give, son?”
    “Weekends,
for sure. Maybe some during the week, but I work full time, so I’m not as
reliable then.”
    “OK.
Come on back. Let’s get you an ID tag, and then we’ll outfit you with an apron
and a big