Many Hands Make Light Work

I picked up three volunteers with their dishes and we headed up the hill to the Lutheran church, where four families were staying this week.

Everyone asked for second helpings of Diane's roast pork.

We recognized some of the children from January. I accompanied Edwin, 3, to the basketball hoop, where he enthusiastically heaved a ball at the regulation-height basket. Meanwhile his 4-year-old sister rode the tricycle up and down the parking lot. Their (working single) mom has her hands full.

Inside, the teenagers engaged in polite conversation, switching easily from Spanish to English as required. There were over 20 people dining together, and there wasn't a cellphone in sight. Although we were prepared to do so, the teens, unbidden, bused the plates and washed the dishes. By eight-thirty the leftovers were put away, the dishes were dried, the families had retired to their quarters, and we were headed home.

(Home and Hope is a group of 30 Peninsula synagogues and churches who provide emergency shelter to displaced families.)