Perspective is a pretty amazing thing.
I arrived in Krakow, Poland early afternoon on Friday. After crashing for a few hours, I went on a hunt for the Polish comfort food I remembered as a child. I found a little place a block away from my hotel and settled in for a big plate of Pierogi. Saturday morning before checking out, I wandered around Olde Towne Square. It was 9 a.m. and the square was buzzing. Tourists and locals enjoying a coffee, breakfast or a pretzel on this brisk morning. The annual holiday market was being constructed. It sure didn’t seem like war was waging less than 3 hours away.
This afternoon I had the privilege of meeting the founder of Hope Shelter, Jay Rivera, along with several of his dedicated and unwavering volunteers. These are all people who have given up what some might call a “big important job,” because one day they decided that the task they were working on may have been a success and made a big profit for their employer, yet it seemed empty. These careers didn’t seem to matter so much in the grand scheme of things. They simply no longer seemed so big or so important.
Jay showed me around his warehouse-turned-shelter that presently has capacity for 60 people, so long as 20 of them are children. Otherwise, 40 adults. These folks typically stay no more than three days on their way to whatever is next and while some have a clue where they are going, many don’t know what the future holds. They arrive scared, hungry, cold, overwhelmed and traumatized. Coffee, a meal, a shower, a bathroom break and a place to sleep seems like a normal part of life, but when you’ve been forced to run from a home that has been destroyed by a barrage of bombs, it has now become a luxury and everyone who comes through is thankful to be there.
There is a new area being setup as a community kitchen/dining area. At the moment dishes are being washed in the bathroom sink. The thought of 60 people sharing two small bathrooms and two small showers, while also being forced to use the sink for washing the dishes — well, it seems like such an easy problem to fix that would make such an enormous difference to the comfort of everyone using the shelter. This is a problem that can be fixed for about $300.00, so I’m going to fix it. Tomorrow Jay and I are going to order a sink that can be connected to a water line and installed in the kitchen area. Unfortunately there is no drainage available, which means this sink is going to need to drain into a huge bucket on wheels and emptied throughout the day. And, yet, it will still be an improvement. It will still make life just a little bit simpler.
There is a room with a bunch of air mattresses and what appear to be older used donated mattresses, some with stains, lying on the floor in a big open area. Some pillows, blankets, clothing, toys and stuffed animals are lying around. This week the shelter is expecting a delivery of beds and mattresses. This large room will be transformed into small family living spaces separated by room dividers, providing a small amount of privacy to those who pass through.
I’m told that today was a slow day at the shelter, but Mr. Putin over in Russia has seemingly decided to starve and freeze the Ukrainians, so the shelter is expecting an influx over the coming days. People who are arriving because they simply can no longer survive in their homes.
One person is responsible for all this destruction. One person has displaced all of these people from their homes, their lives. None of this is their fault.
Can’t we all just get along?
Will you help me help this shelter? There are lots of ways to donate, but know that all monies no matter how they are received will be used for beds and mattresses and other supplies – including a new sink I’m purchasing today for Hope Shelter. To make your donations tax deductible, you can make them through Volunteer Housing Initiative. You will have the opportunity to add a comment to tell them you want your funds to go toward this effort. Or, you can donate directly to me via Venmo to @MtgMistress or by PayPal through this site.