Community Service Project by a young black belt candidate
My Community Service Project for Black Belt 1st Degree
By LV.3 Red Belt, David Tuerffs
When I got to St. Andrew’s, where one of the many Brown Bag Ministry gatherings are held, I helped set up tables for packing the brown bag meals. When all the tables were set up, the head of the ministry said a prayer and we all got to work. I went to a table that had a piece of paper on it that said “ Alice: Water, Sandwich, Crunchy Item”. It meant that the group of bag lunches we were packing was for Alice. The head of the ministry said she was pretty much the “homeless guru.” Alice dedicates every weekend to give all the meals in the paper bags we made that we deliver to her to the homeless. Anyway, the “Water, Sandwich, Crunchy item”, meant what we were supposed to put in each bag. We needed to make 80 lunch bags for her. When we finished with Alice’s bagged lunches, we helped with the other bag lunches. Also, we helped unload and load up the Brown Bag Ministry truck.
What I learned from Brown Bag Ministry, is that you have to count your blessings. If you are hungry and you say, “I’m starving!”, think about the homeless people who are like that for days or sometimes weeks. If you are cold, don’t complain, think of all the people who live outside under bridges where cold does not even begin to cover how they feel. You are all very blessed, so realize that by thinking about those who are homeless and do not have enough to eat.
