Jeremy invited me to join his church group for a service project at the Road Home last night. The Road Home is a non-profit organization that provides emergency housing, and aide to homeless families in Utah.
I have never been to a Road Home facility before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The one we went to is located in a warehouse next to train tracks in a bit of a run down industrial area in old Midvale. Inside the open warehouse are rows and rows and rows of beds. There were probably about 75+ families currently staying there. While it is better conditions than living on the street, it was very eye opening and humbling to see how little these people truly have.
For the service project, we ended up playing games with the kids, doing a craft project, and decorating cookies. The kids were so excited to have something fun to do. While a lot of it was mass chaos with fifty kids running around, it was still an enjoyable time for them. I think most of them just liked being interacted with, and being able to be kids.
It was such an easy thing to do on our part, and surely seemed to brighten their day. I will definitely be thinking about doing more volunteering in the future. No matter the circumstance of why the families are there, everyone needs help in their lives. I will often get so caught up in materialistic things, and my own problems when there are really so many people that I could put that energy towards in a positive way.
Thank you for inviting me along, Jeremy. It was definitely an eye opening experience. I hope that with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we can all keep what we are thankful for on our minds, and create space in our lives to help eachother out.
Information about the road home here: http://www.theroadhome.org/
They are always in need of volunteers and donations.