Baked Goods & Toilet Paper

Today the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention and Christ Church Cathedral hosted the annual memorial service for the homeless members of our community who died in 2010. This was part of the National Homeless Persons Memorial Service. All Saints parishioners provided desserts for the community meal that followed. Later in the day, All Saints helped out with a toilet paper shortage at the Damien Center. Patricia Griffin reports:

The service at the Cathedral was wonderful, as usual. Lance and I were both there, and we also saw Mary Roberts.

The pews were nearly filled, and two testimonials were of course heart-breaking, yet there is hope now for both of these individuals as they are getting on with their life and now off the street. There were 36 people that were honored today that died in 2010, which was down from about 50 in 2009. The service concluded with a moment of silence and 37 tolls of the church bells, one for each of those who had died, and one for those known only to God.

Prior to the service, we picked up the lemon pound cakes from Jane Billman, that she and Brendan baked at Jane's house on Saturday, for the event. Jane indicated they would feed 90 people. The organizers from CHIP were thrilled to get the home baked goods for the luncheon today.

On another note, Lance and I stopped by the Church this afternoon and picked up items for the Damien Center and delivered them. It must have been a premonition they might need what was in the contents, as there were several packages of toilet paper from AS, and they only had one left on the shelf.

News about other Episcopal observations of the National Homeless Persons Memorial Service can be found at the Episcopal Cafe.

The worship bulletin included a special prayer for those in need:

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

O God
When I have food,
Help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
Help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home,
Help me to remember the homeless;
When I am without pain,
Help me to remember those who suffer;
And remembering,
Helm me to destroy my complacency,
And bestir my compassion,
Make me concerned enough to help
By word and deed, those who cry out
For what we take for granted. Amen.

Anonymous,
Prayers for the Common Good