Doing a good deed...

[zeon]

Hi All,
When was the last time you did a good deed and what was it?? Well mine was last night.... Rece4ntly ive been rushed off me feet with work and other bits and pieces and when i was onj my way home from my mums I saw a guy who i know who is homeless and pulled over for a chat asking him how his been etc... Well after a chat he told me that he is looking for a bench to sleep on where he wont get moved on and I told him he isnt and to get in and he can crash at mine for tonight... Well on the way home i talked with him about different aspects of where his life is going and trying to avoid the MASSIVE SMELL of stale body odour i asked him in conversation if he would like a bath and he smiled and said that would be fab as he cant remember the last time he had one...
When i got home almost heaving and being sick (windows in car all the way down and breaking speed limits to get home quicker) i ran him a bath and told him to put his dirty clothes into the white bag by the door.. He soaked for an hour and i showed him where the shower gel and shaving stuff is etc and put his clothes into the bin outside... When he got out the bath i had sorted out some old clothes i wouldnt miss and gave them to him and saw a glee in his eyes as though id re lit the flame inside him and gave him my tobacco as i figured he could use it more than i could... I then cooked up some pasta for him which went immediately and we had a chat about his future and what direction he wants his life to go... Well he told me his 22 and is gay and his parents threw him out three years ago because of his sexuality and he said his sick of people judging him because his homeless and because he has to beg to stay alive. He told me how people just spit on him in the street and call him scum telling him he was better off a "fucking cot death" than in existance.. I was saddenned and shocked by it all and he asked me why i let him into my home when he could run off with anything as i only know him from seeing around town.. I told him because my gut instinct is never wrong and tells me i can trust you.. l told him that if he was going to take something be my guest... I dont have anything of any value so all your doing is taking something with no where to store it before it ends up in a bin..
After he had eaten he asked me if he could have a hug and i said sure so i hugged him and he said... You know what... I havent given someone a hug in... So long... He told me his mum was a drug addict and his dad went off with another woman leaving him in the lurch and his mum and new step dad kicked him out when he came out... l told him that if he ever needs a place to stay his welcome at mine anytime providing he doesnt become a tea leaf... He then burst into tears and Aunty zeon went into caring mode and said... Come here you silly bastard you got a friend here who will help where possible to get ya life back on track for ya... Well at 2am it was time to hit the bed... He looked puzzled as to where to sleep and i told him that he can sleep on the other side of the bed as i can be trusted... Well this morning i drove him back into town on way to work and as he got out he told me that when his life is sorted he will be finding me to show me what his achieving and i told him ill still offer support then as i do now as i look after friends i know...

Now a lot of people judge homeless people and think they are nothing more than a loss cause however.... Why not take five minutes out of your time to just talk to them... 5 minutes of your time can appear an hour to someone who is homeless and I know this from personal experience two years ago when i was sleeping out the back of my old peugeot 206 for ten weeks... I know when i go into town i buy one of them a portion of chips which is about a price of a drink... I can survive my night with one less drink the question here is can you???

Kindest regards

Aunty Zeon xx

[mrk2010]

Be careful, be very careful although what you did was quite nice I would never open my home to a random stranger. At the end of the day there may have been another reason why he was made homeless, I don't mean to be harsh but some of these people are trained liars and can pull the wool over anyone's eyes. I must admit when I see homeless people I do prejudge them, but it's for my own safety. It may have been more of help to refer him to a hostel rather than doing the very risky thing of taking him in. I think I'm gonna still follow my policy of walking on when I see them in the street. You live a life of drama and it's a life I would like to avoid ...........................................................................

[Pix]

I've helped the homeless and have had both good & bad experiences for it. I find them similar to most other segments of the population: many are ok, a few are awesome, and a few will not hesitate to screw you over (especially if you give them an opportunity).

I've also been homeless myself but never as an adult (I did skip days of eating and accepted some very rude accommodations that were little better than squat in my late teens and early twenties, but I did have a legal address I could give the cops if asked, even if it was just a friend's place, so I don't consider myself homeless thinking back to those days).

You know, a sad irony is that some homeless Christians (devout) considered me the true Christian even though I said I was agnostic. There was a preacher who worked at the center (it was primarily a food bank but provided other services to both the homeless and those close enough, like if they still had an address they could get free boxes of food as well as toiletries, clothes, even toys for their kids) but he was sorta sneering to most homeless (he had a few pets) and self-righteous and preaching (he was also openly anti-gay and said the center shouldn't help anyone in the LGBT community but he wasn't able to make that a policy), and it turned out he ran more than one program which he got grants for that another who worked there said he skimmed off of for his own use. The vast majority of his good deeds were actually done by his church that he made volunteer, too. Just to be clear he wasn't the only one who worked there, nor was he the top dog (though he had the top dog wrapped around his finger), but he did use his authority the most to browbeat those who came for help so that some thought he was.

At first I volunteered just to keep an eye on my girl (who was volunteering there as part of getting a Girl Scout badge, which that preacher put them up to through his daughter also in the Scouts, btw, though I didn't find that out until later). This was because my experience as a runaway where being underage I couldn't get help from charities (a few overlooked the ages of those who came to them but they risked criminal charges of contributing to our delinquency and being shut down over it) so we were more desperate and hung around adult homeless who were either too mentally ill or at rock bottom in their hardcore addiction or too wanted by the cops so they, like us, avoided charities and didn't get any government aid. That meant I saw the worst the streets had to offer and so I worried about my innocent girl being around those elements so I volunteered as well to keep an eye on her and the other girls.

But as I worked with the homeless (and "close enough" which is to say they would be if they weren't getting helped by us) I found the vast majority of them nice people (there were a few troublemakers but they weren't tolerated at all and sent on their way, with the cops called if they didn't leave right away), heck even a few people doing community service there were usually cool (one said it was a blessing in disguise as she found a lot more new customers to sell her pot to among many of the volunteers and others doing community service and even one who got paid to be there ). I warmed to them and instead became vigilant toward a few volunteers (and one guy on community service that I didn't like) and the preacher who just wafted with bad vibes instead. But I liked most of the homeless and most of them seemed to like me (I even got hugged a few times), and I even continued to volunteer and donate there and elsewhere even after my girl stopped. And so I did the ironic deed:

Some of the homeless were really devout and complained of churches not wanting them to attend services (even when officially invited they said many of the others made them feel unwelcome and/or they felt self-conscious as not being all clean and dressed up for services). So I printed up fliers, asked around at the local churches (especially those that contributed to the center) and got some Bibles donated, and helped them pull it together. I never intended to go myself but they insisted I show up so I did, and they were pretty cool. A really cool part was one preaching that it was wrong to judge and all must treated with love & compassion and one guy got hateful saying the Bible says gays should not be tolerated (the preacher that worked there preached a sermon once that said accepting gays would cause God to destroy America), and one responded by quoting verses at him (having us all look it up) about he who condemns others condemns himself and worry more about the beam in your own eye than the splinter in your neighbor's and everyone but him (who left in a huff) agreed with that (many said they knew what it was like to be despised, even by "good Christians" and didn't want to be that way themselves to others). When they later shared what denominations they were I told them I was agnostic. They said they knew me by my fruits and my helping people as I did and making their Bible study possible (when even the preacher wouldn't help them with that) was proof I was with their god (IOW, I was an honorary Christian), and I found that really sweet. mile:

Unfortunately a "clerical error" got the center shut down later on. Two people who worked there said they believe the preacher I mentioned above skimmed the funds leaving them in the red, but they can't prove it, and the cops are just happy they're shut down for awhile. Luckily a couple of churches have opened their doors to help pick up the slack and more still are trying to get the center back open. I've moved to a much better area since then and have stopped volunteering myself (just one more reason I have time to play on the net now), though I'll still contribute coffee, trash bags, and food to places that serve meals to the homeless and the like (especially for the holidays).

[Rainbowmum]

That's very sweet of you Aunty.
My last good deed was this morning , I strongly believe that any time there are people around is a chance to do a good deed.