On one December day I received an e-mail from a friend of mine looking for volunteers at a "charity" dinner for homeless people. I was going home for holidays after nearly 5 months without seeing my family and friends and I didn't want to "waste" the little time I had but when the time arrived I decided to participate.
I didn't know what to expect...the only information I had was that there is a need for help because we are preparing a dinner for more than 100 people. Whats more, the atmosphere has to be also authentic.
"Homeless people are very special", one of the guys with more experience explained, "we can have some problems here because they will come with their bags where they carry all their lives and they won't leave them out of their sight. They are affraid of the others because they steal from each other".This meant a problem for us. Because of the capacity we needed everyone to leave things in the cloakroom together with jackets. When splitting the roles I was put into the so called "welcome team" which precisely meant persuading coming people to leave their things in the special place and seating them at their tables.
The moment arrived and I was a bit nervous on how everything will work out and I started to doubt it was a good idea coming. I wasn't even sure if I really could be of any help there. But when the first people came and I saw how kind they were, all troubles were gone.
After hours of work I was literally exhausted but at the same moment I have never felt so fulfilled. I met many nice homeless people who were thankful for a human approach and I met one who could I call "my favourite". I hope he is doing good because when I am sad I just look back at that Christmas afternoon which I bear in my heart and realize that La vita e bella also thanks to him :)+ if you would like to see more click here: https://picasaweb.google.com/samantha.wate/VianocnyObedPreBezdomovcovReminiscencie27122010#5555577395145401698
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