Service for the Soul

It's a truth I've known for a long time.  That the giver is the greatest beneficiary of the gift.  That volunteering and helping people out really helps us more than anyone else. 

These past few months, being away from my little community, I've come to see that truth with a new clarity.

I need to work.  I need to serve.  To be useful.  To push a wheelchair down the street and have coffee with my neighbour.  I need to pack meals and give them to the guys in the square that wait for us every Friday.  I need to shop for groceries and cook and serve and share a meal with the volunteers and guests who join us for our monthly lunch. 

The service isn't for them.  It's for me.  I need it.  Like my lungs need air and my stomach needs food.  My soul needs service.

Feeding hungry hearts

When we started Project Downtown, we learned that it's not just about feeding hungry stomachs, but also hungry hearts.  So, when we go out and deliver our food packages, we try to stop and talk to the people we meet, ask them how they're doing and listen to them.  It's our small attempt to alleviate hunger in the heart as well as the stomach.

Today, I was reminded again of how the benefits of giving don't fall solely upon the recipient.

As we were walking back to the car after delivering our packages, we passed a group of the guys opening their packages and eating the sandwiches we made.  They smiled and thanked us and wished us a good evening and a good weekend.  We wished them the same.  My heart swelled.

After Project Downtown, a few of us had dinner together and spent the rest of the evening chatting and hanging out.  I love to spend an evening spent chatting and hanging out with friends.  It just fills me up.  And because we do Project Downtown every week, we get to hang out every week as well.  And I realized that Project Downtown also feeds my own hungry heart.

Three hearts

Every Friday afternoon, my friends and I do Project Downtown.  We put together packages of food and snacks - lately it's been a hot dog or hamburger, a granola bar or two, a cheese bun and/or a muffin, an orange, a banana and juice - and distribute them to people hanging around City Hall who look like they would appreciate the food. 

We learned about Project Downtown four years ago, when a student from the US came to Toronto and introduced it to us.  One of the things he told us has really stuck with me.

Recently, I realized that it's something that applies to any good work or act of kindness done to benefit another person.

He said that when we go out and do Project Downtown, our actions touch three hearts.  One, we touch the heart of the recipient.  Two, we touch the heart of the person who sees us do what we do.  And three, we touch our own hearts.