May 31, 2022
Alive. The theme for this week must be, alive. I don’t know about you, but the last couple of weeks were brutal. There was so much death surrounding me in every direction. It was up close, far away, arm’s length, but always close to home. I did not go out to Detroit last week because I was still recovering from surgery. It put me behind on getting ready for today. Lots of pain and death last week.
But where there is a strong-willed woman there is a way. Miracles abound for Magdalene’s Mission somehow, we got it done on time. I packed 40 healthy meals. 3 cases of water. 40 Mag Bags, and 5 totes of clothes. 2 totes of shoes, a bin of blankets, pepper spray, and a bag of socks and unders for guys. I’m out of women’s underwear and sports bras.
I usually write down everything as we go. It helps to write an accurate report and helps me to remember details. Tonight, I did not. I was completely engaged. I was Alive. The teams were all pumped up tonight, too. With all the activity where we were, it’s really important to pay attention to everyone in every direction coming from everywhere at the same time. That’s where the danger might be, or another person who needs our help. Either way, the city is a living, breathing entity. Everything living, or once living, is a part of the entity which is Detroit. There are sick cells floating around and it’s like the nonprofit teams are the white blood cells.
We drove around all over the place. We saw so many people out and about. We fed them all. We made sure everyone was taken care of. One older gentleman was frustrated because there were people out on all the intersections, and he didn’t have anywhere to go where he could beg. He just wanted to be out there for a half our or so. Long enough so that he could buy a pop, and then take a nice nap on that park bench. He shared with Traci and I some of the insane things he had seen people doing out on the street just that day. We all had a good laugh. Then we sent one another off into the dusky humidity with a mutual blessing.
Again, another nonprofit saw the caravan and inquired about what we were doing. The name of their organization is called Alternatives For Girls. They work with young women and teenagers who are either sex-workers or human-trafficking victims and offer them support, such as counseling, and housing, so that they may transition into a safer life. We discussed how we overlap clienteles and outreach neighborhoods. They agreed that I should have a place so that we could have all these different nonprofits can help each other help people. The immune system is its own living entity. With different glands and proteins and hormones, made up of individual calls all working together. Life is possible through the interconnectivity of billions of separate networks which all have the same common goal. That goal is to be alive.
I met homeless construction workers again. I meet a lot of homeless people with jobs. Panhandling is considered at least more respectable than crime. Interesting perspectives.
At our last stop of the night, we parked under the big neon lights and waited. It didn’t take long for people to come out from everywhere. I saw a friend. She is a wonderful, sweet lady. Unfortunately, her husband was very sick, and it was making him act psychotic and violent towards her. She said she got him away from her finally, but now he’s wandering around the streets acting weird. Pepper spray! I met a guy who had a mace can on him that his wife gave him that was from me. It stopped some guy from stabbing him while he was walking home from work. You never know. The jungle is a fierce living organism. He’s still alive to be a part of it.
Our very last client was a man who saw that we had food. He stumbled up to us in a filthy shirt and shorts that looked too big to stay on his tiny body and carried a heavy bag. He was gasping for air and could hardly speak. All he could get out was, “Food, please. My clothes… so dirty, please.” I ran over and grabbed the attention of the medical team. It was showtime. They poured out of the ambulance, and I knew he was going to be alright.
By then we were out of meals and nearly out of Mag Bags. I talked to a couple of other volunteers on how they could start their own nonprofit. They know they can be more effective than the organization who they are representing. I know they can, too, because they understand the value, the treasure, the gift of Life. It’s sacred. It’s special. It’s special because it’s fragile. It’s not guaranteed. Every human experience is unique. Some are easy in some ways. Most of them are hard in some way. Either way we want to say it’s worth it. I want to be able to say that I didn’t merely exist. I actually lived. Because that’s how we do it in Detroit. Amen.
#magdalenesmission #peaceloveandhygiene
If you would like to donate to Magdalene’s Mission so that we may continue to save lives:
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