Given many gifts to give

Posted 12/12/19

The gift of giving Just as Sunday service was being completed at Concordia Center for Spiritual Living at 292 West Shore Road, a truck pulled up to the church containing 200 backpacks and an estimated 10,000 items from toothbrushes, blankets, gloves,

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Given many gifts to give

Posted

Just as Sunday service was being completed at Concordia Center for Spiritual Living at 292 West Shore Road, a truck pulled up to the church containing 200 backpacks and an estimated 10,000 items from toothbrushes, blankets, gloves, socks, food bars and toiletries. Nothing like this had happened before. It was a gift from a member of the congregation that in turn the center would give to the community.

The first concern was unloading the truck.

Kim St. Sauveur rallied volunteers who soon had multiple boxes stacked in the basement room where people come together for coffee. The same room was transformed into an assembly line Monday night. After items had been sorted and counted, backpacks were picked up at one end and then were carried down the line as they were filled. A crew of 18 made short work of the project.

A team from the center makes regular visits to Burnside Park in Providence to bring clothing, coffee and donuts to the homeless. They had never been faced with such abundance to give.

The center also wanted to address needs closer to home.

Maisie Raffery reached out to Westbay Community Action, the House of Hope, the city’s Department of Human Services and the EBC Center. As she connected with people they offered suggestions on who else could use help.

As Operation Stand Down and the House of House work directly with the homeless, Raffery said the backpacks will go to them in addition to the 75 the center plans to hand out to people at Burnside Park this Saturday. The remaining items will go to other non-profits.

The Rev. Alan Vukas, senior minister, who hadn’t been clued in that there was going to be a delivery Sunday, said he was coming to the end of his message when the truck pulled up. He was talking about the character George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life” and pondering the question, “What if I had never been born?”

He said the gift, now being re-gifted, is “a wonderful opportunity to be a channel for good to the community…It’s a world that works for everyone.”

(Text and photos by John Howell)

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