Saturday, August 6, 2016

July 28th

It's a long story but I promise it is worth the read! 
Normally I post about my burrito bike ride the night of, but after last night I couldn't put into words how much my heart broke on this ride, so the next day later here we go....204 burritos, 35 hot dogs loaded up in the heaviest backpack I have carried since volunteering. The hour before riding it was thundering, lightening and pouring outside. I didn't think we would be riding with the weather as bad as it was but someone said we always ride no matter what condition is outside, there is a need on the streets. While standing outside waiting to fill my backpack to begin riding, a gentleman came up and asked if we had an extra shirt for him to have. Someone went in the building to get him a shirt and I asked if he wanted anything to eat, he responded by saying "no all I would like is a dry shirt." I couldn't talk anymore, because you how many times I changed my shirt today in between all of the activities I had going on? 4. 4 times I changed my shirt and all this gentleman had was his one wet shirt. He walked away with 3 dry shirts and a bag of food. As the night came to an end, we saw this girl and decided to give her the last of the food we had. We pulled up beside her and you could tell by her demeanor she was dealing with some type of traumatic situation. She was very hesitant to take the food, barley spoke to us and looked terrified. We asked her if she needed anything to help get her at night and she shook her head no. We told her we would be back with a bag of stuff for her. We rode back to the church to grab food, water and hygiene products for her. One of the guys in my group and myself loaded up the stuff on our bikes to take to her while the rest of our group went home. As we approached her, we thought it would be best if I approached her alone. The guy in my group stood away from us but close enough to hear everything going on and be in eye sight of us. I slowly approached her and put the bag down on the seat she was sitting on. I first asked her what her name is. She told me and we continued a small conversation. I explained what was in the bag, what we were doing on bikes, when she can expect to see us around, and if there was anything else we could do for her. She looked at me for the first time in the eyes and said no thank you. I walked away from this girl who looked to be younger than me and my heart just broke. After arriving back at the church the guy I was with got in contact with someone to hopefully get her help. Today I strongly encourage you to go out and make a difference in someone's life, it doesn't have to be a big gesture, maybe it's just the shirt off your back.
This story is by Kristin Decker, a UBFM volunteer.

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