One day last spring I decided to help out the homeless in the area, and it changed my life.
There are now two homeless shelters in Monroe, the DeSiard St. Shelter and the Salvation Army. There are none from Baton Rouge to Little Rock and from Jackson to Shreveport. Anyone in search of assistance, who is not in one of those cities, is put on a bus for Monroe. There is a funding and space issue at our local shelters. When the DeSiard St. Shelter was in danger of shutting down due to lack of funding, I decided to help out. I started a charity last year called #SpareSomeChange. I took mason jars to different local businesses. Whatever pocket change people had, they could drop it into the jar for me to take. Over 30 locally owned businesses had jars. The funds went to the shelter.
What was truly life changing about the campaign was what happened when I began to volunteer at the shelter. I worked the breakfast shift three days a week. I stood outside with the guests waiting for the doors to open. We call them guests because this is not their forever home. Each guest at the shelter left an impression on my heart that will never be forgotten.
It is the smallest things that can change someone’s day for the better and I saw it happen every morning. One morning after putting out the new pot of coffee, an old lady made her cup then walked over to me. She looked me in the eyes and through tears thanked me. She said, “You truly don’t understand what you’re doing. Please don’t forget about us.” It shook me to my core.
Why do I say all this? It is not for a pat on the back, but to urge you to look into helping out with homeless. It doesn’t have to be in Monroe. There are roughly 554,000 homeless people across the U.S. It could be serving food, donating clothes or starting your own charity. Beginning to work with those who are less fortunate will change your life in for the better.
If you would like to find out how you can help out with the DeSiard St. Shelter or the Salvation Army reach out to me or contact the DeSiard St. Shelter or the Salvation Army.