This New Yorker Cares

Tonight I started to chip away at one of those resolutions for 2010. I attended my first volunteer event at a church on the Upper East Side and it made me feel so good (and sad, but I'll get to that) that I'm going to try to volunteer once a week or at least twice a month. Tonight I helped serve about 80 homeless men and women a hot meal. Looking around the room it was surprising to see the varying spectrum of people who need assistance.

There was a super sweet Asian woman (I swear it was Becky's aunt who used to work for the museum) wearing the brightest patterned spandex I've ever seen. She kept pulling stuff out of her bag and giving it to people. At one point this little old lady with a plate full of noodles was holding a bottle of Crisco vegetable oil and I was like where the hell did she get that from and please don't let her pour it on her macaroni. Thankfully she didn't. It was a gift from Spandex. I wonder what that lady is going to do with her brand new bottle of vegetable oil.

There were a few who were definitely off their rockers. I asked one lady if she was done with her applesauce and she said bitch leave it alone. I passed her a few minutes later and she was still muttering bitch leave my applesauce alone. Another lady was complaining about everything. She came over at the end of the night and said that one of the guys who was volunteering "call her the f-u-c-k word". A fight almost broke out, but thankfully didn't.

There was a vegetarian guy who ate vegetables and salad. There was a guy wearing a shirt & tie and looked like he could work in any of our offices. There were lots of couples. Most of the people looked like people we interact with on a daily basis and it reminded how lucky we are. I'm sure the people tonight won't give me a second thought, but I wish they could know I'll think of them and hope they're doing ok.

**I'm happy to report that my supersonic sense of smell was under control tonight. Melin, I know you were concerned.