This Week God Brought Us..."Christine, Anthony and Juanita”
This week God brought us... "Christine, Anthony and Juanita.” Sometimes our front desk can be a bit of air traffic control. Christine and Anthony coasted into our driveway on fumes, literally. They used the last of their gas to drop off their teenager at Running Start at EWU. Their family of four evacuated during the Spokane Complex Wildfires, returning home to everything smoke damaged. Anthony had been out of work at the time of the fires and the cost of evacuating tipped them into dire need. You could have mistaken them for people entering our doors to MAKE a donation... rather, they find themselves in the uncomfortable position of asking for help.
Right behind them came Juanita, her mother and her littlest girl, asking for clothing and toys for her three daughters.
Christine and Anthony overheard this and joyfully ran to their car – they ‘happened’ to have a large tote full of their daughter’s toys they meant to donate; Juanita’s little girl squealed as she dug through little princess treasures. Anthony got choked up, saying “I didn’t realize how sad I am that our daughter has outgrown her toys, and I also have never seen the impact of where something goes after it is donated.”
Before staff met Christine & Anthony at the gas station to fill up their car, I invited them into my office for a rest and conversation. Christine said “We didn’t want to ask for help because so many people have it worse than us.” Why did you think of Catholic Charities, I asked. It turns out that Anthony once installed safety alarms in our building, so he was aware of us. And then the gas ran out. Right here. Our time together was another way of filling up what was on fumes… their spiritual, emotional tanks. I listened as they poured out a history of a home fire in 2016, brief homelessness, family estrangement, now this catastrophic fire. Yet their daughter had just won a “Kindness” Award, and their son is in Running Start. “I am proud of you,” I said. “We haven’t heard that in a long, long time,” they said.
How we all intersect with one another, witness one another, be the hands of Love, is everything.