DIGNITY AND THE SOUP KITCHEN

The soup kitchen in Cesis is staffed by three churches, taking a month's rotation each. March is Cesis Baptist Church turn so we have been helping there during lunch. There are usually between 10 and 20 people there, all at different stops on life's road. Some are struggling mightily with alcohol, some with mental problems and some with age related or health problems.

As a man, I see us provide them soup, a warm place for an hour or so and maybe an orange for dessert. I know it is not enough but I am almost overwhelmed when thinking what else could we do for them with our limited resources.

Thank goodness Laura does not think like a man! She looked at the people and saw the same things but she looked deeper. She saw that these people not only need food but also a band-aid on their dignity.

She bakes cookies now for them each day that we serve. Of course, they just loved them. Then she went even further. She decided we needed to 'class' up the place a little. She worked it out so that we could brew up tea and coffee for each of them. You cannot imagine how that small act was appreciated.

The first day the ladies' table was just sitting there, drinking their tea, having a big conversation about something. Inese started laughing and told us one of the ladies said "Now, this is my style! Drinking tea and eating cookies...this is living!".

We take so much for granted in our own lives and we can't even begin to understand the problems that these people face. Yet, every day they don't leave without telling us 'paldies, paldies' (thank you, thank you). It doesn't matter that we don't speak the language ... they are going to talk to us in Latvian anyway! Today, one woman keep chattering and I could understand 'sirds' which means 'heart' and pointing to me .... that about says it all!

I'm so glad that Laura can see beyond what I see ... and that she could understand that dignity is just as important as food.

Have a good weekend!