Volunteering at a homeless shelter

This summer I went on my first street retreat [NL: straat retraite]. With 8 other Upaya residents we spent 4 days on the streets of Santa Fe. Before the street retreat I wrote this blog post [NL: klik hier voor de Nederlandse blogpost], afterwards I wrote the following about my experience [NL: klik hier voor de Nederlandse versie].

In preparation [NL: voorbereiding] for the street retreat all of us raised money [NL: hebben geld ingezameld], which was somehow going to be used for the good of the homeless in Santa Fe [NL: dat ten goede zou komen aan daklozen in Santa Fe]. After the retreat the participants decided that we didn't just want to donate our money to some homeless charity [NL: liefdadigheid], but that we wanted to get involved as well [NL: we wilden zelf ook wat doen]. It was decided that we were going to start making dinners at a local homeless shelter [NL: daklozenopvang]. Of course it wasn't just going to be the 9 people who went on the street retreat; everybody in the Upaya community (in the widest sense) who wanted to join was welcome to.

The local homeless shelter where we were going to do this is Pete's Place (officially the Interfaith Community Shelter). During our street retreat we'd had lunch there twice. Sofar two of these dinners have been prepared and served by a group of Upaya people. The first was in november, exactly when I was on my way to Santa Fe from Europe. The second one was in december, and I was happy to be able to participate.

A few days before the dinner the Upaya kitchen team and volunteers from the local sangha (people who live nearby and are connected to Upaya) started preparations. Thus, when we arrived at Pete's Place all that had to be done was to put all the parts of the meal together. We served a beautiful meal: chicken soup, beef chili (or vegetarian chili), rice, bread, a salad and brownies. Everything had been made from excellent produce [NL: ingredienten], the same that the Upaya kitchen normally uses. We had enough food to feed more than a hundred people. Brownies were made at home by volunteers, and we had mountains of them.

When we had lunch at Pete's Place during our street retreat we were served by volunteers [NL: vrijwilligers], usually from local churches, and we ate between the homeless folks. This time we experienced Pete's from the other side. That is, we served the meal from behind a serving window [NL; een loket waar doorheen geserveerd werd], but we ate the same food and we did sit down to eat between the usual crowd. I recognized [NL: herkende] some people from the summer, but most faces were new to me.

I loved being back at Pete's Place. The Upaya kitchen team had done a great job preparing the meal, so putting the meal together went very smoothly [NL: gladjes]. The comradery [NL: saamhorigheid] between the Upaya people was beautiful, connected [NL: verbonden] as we were by a warm hearted, caring willingness [NL: zorgzame bereidheid] to serve those without a home.

And I loved interacting with the folks who came to get dinner, although it was painful as well. For instance, the sight of a mother and daughter was particularly disturbing [NL: pijnlijk]. The mother didn't look good, no clear eyes. The girl was maybe 9 years old and was coloring in her coloring book on the long tables where people ate. She was coloring surrounded by Pete's usual homeless crowd [NL: publiek] that includes alcoholics, other addicts [NL; verslaafden] and people with (usually untreated) psychiatric conditions, sometimes obviously quite severe [NL: ernstig]. What a place to be coloring...

When it was time for me to eat I sat down across from [NL: tegenover] a young woman. She was blonde, her skin didn't look great, neither did her eyes. I liked her though. She had a sweetness about her, I liked her voice, and she seemed to be happy to talk to me. I felt for her [NL: ik had met haar te doen]. Being a woman on the streaats must be particularly hard. She told me her story. As it continued I had more and more difficulty believing it though. Her former boss [NL: ex-baas] had stolen an important project from her, her ex-boyfriend had stolen from her, her family had stolen from her, and more people had stolen from her. It seemed like the whole world had stolen from her...

Later, not long before we left, I had seconds [NL: een tweede portie]. I sat down across from an older lady. Probably in her sixties, her eyes were clear and she looked remarkably neat [NL: opvallend netjes] for somebody living a homeless life. She lived at Pete's Place. We had a really nice talk. She asked me about our group, who we were. She was impressed [NL: onder de indruk] by us, not only by the beautiful and balanced meal ("The best meal I've had in months!"), but also by the energy we brought to the place. She said that he volunteers that usually come to serve at Pete's do come to help people, but often she feels looked down upon [NL: dat er op hen neergekeken wordt] which can be quite painful. She noticed [NL: merkte op] that our energy was different. She used the words respectful, sincere [NL: oprecht], caring [NL: zorgzaam] and loving to describe [NL: beschrijven] it. I told her about Upaya, that the qualities she mentioned are exactly those that we try to cultivate in our practice and embody [NL: belichamen] when we serve. She asked if our meditations were open to the public (and to her). I told her they usually are, and I gave her directions to Upaya. She said that maybe she would come. I didn't see her appear [NL: verschijnen] at Upaya, though. Maybe I will see her again when we go to Pete's again, or maybe even at Upaya.

This winter we made and served two meals at Pete's, this spring [NL: voorjaar] there will be two more. Unfortunately [NL: jammer genoeg] I won't be at Upaya then. For now, Pete's didn't have more open slots [NL: lege plekjes] on their schedule that work for us. Maybe there will be more in the future when this goes well. I hope so!

#Homelessshelter #UpayaZenCenter #streetretreat