Monday at the Drop-In Center
We hope everyone enjoyed themselves this Memorial Day. We had a relaxed day at the drop-in center. We served 22 people today, 5 of them being children of clients, their ages ranging from 7 months to 13 years old. One of our volunteers, Jeannine, provided today’s lunch. She joined forces with others in the community and we had pulled pork sandwiches with slaw and beans. Today was also “birthday day” so our Lisieux baker, Joy, provided us with delicious chocolate and strawberry cakes.
One of our women has been waiting all month for us to celebrate May birthdays. Her birthday was early in the month but she has been talking about it for about 2 months now. As I was transporting her at the end of the day, I asked when the last time was that a room full of people sang happy birthday to her and she said, “It’s been a LONG time.”
When Lisa walked through the doors today, she told us, “Today we honor the dead AND the living!” A volunteer donated the funds for us to purchase roses for all of the women. We then tied a message to each rose that said, “Today and every day we honor you. We love you.” We slid a rose into each woman’s bag before she left for the day.
At some point today, Sherika asked if I could link one of our new client’s up with a resource for housing. The woman is currently living in a vehicle. Sherika is the one who referred the new client to the drop-in center in the first place. Not long after, I sat down at the dining room table across from Sherika to eat lunch. Before I knew it, she was telling me her story. She told me about her childhood and all of the emotional and sexual trauma. She wasn’t looking for responses. She just needed to be heard. She also spoke about her adult life and deep depression. She said that beginning to come to Lisieux was a turning point for her and explained how grateful she is for what we do on Mondays.
Today was very busy with women asking for additional services. Three women filled out applications for replacement social security cards and a couple of women asked for individual appointments to discuss options for housing and seeing healthcare providers. And, side note, the woman with the abscessed tooth came in on Friday and we were able to get her seen by a doctor who prescribed antibiotics. We are honored to walk this path with such wonderful women. Thank you for walking with us!
-whitney
