Back at the hotel now. Hope to get some rest after another fruitful, but busy day at the respite center. After dinner I plan to watch a couple innings of the World Series before watching this week’s episode of This Is Us.
This morning it became clear that the first place to start at the respite center each day will be the showers trailer. So I wiped down the eight shower stalls top to bottom with a can of Comet that I bought yesterday. Once the showers were washed and the drains cleaned out, I moved to gather any dirty clothes left behind and designated them for the dumpster.
Shortly after finishing with the showers trailer I was able to meet Sister Anne. As the day unfolded it would become clear that Sister Anne, like all committed to doing the Lord’s will, was the unstoppable force that kept the respite center operating in the face of overwhelming needs arriving at their door.
As was the case yesterday, the fridge needed restocked with ham and cheese sandwiches. However, I found myself spending the next two hours just trying to put in as many sandwiches as were being taken out for families leaving for bus station. Eventually me and another volunteer were able to get ahead and the fridge was filled with close to 200 sandwiches.
The next item in need of restocking were the snack packs. Again, we first were just trying to keep pace with bags going out. I lost count of how many snack packs we assembled, but we filled both racks to ceiling. And by morning all but one or two shelves of snack packs will remain.
In between checking on sandwich and snack pack inventory, I helped serve more soup to newly arrived children and their relatives. Every 20 minutes or so, I also went to tidy up the men’s showers and take dirty towels to be washed. Then there was the taking garbage to the dumpster, cleaning up soup spills and doing my best to greet everyone I encountered with a warm smile.
My last task of the day was to accompany Sister Anne to the grocery to gather supplies for soup and breakfast. It was great chance to hear Sister Anne express her joy about how was providing for the center, while at the same time sharing her fears about the growing number of arrivals that shows no signs of letting up.
Yesterday I saw the center shower and feed a little over 500 people. Today was no exception with another wave of 500 plus people arriving from the detention center. And so many of the arrivals continue to be small children including several infants I saw in the waiting area today.
I’m thinking that tomorrow will be more of the same. Consequently, I will tomorrow to try my best to explain the detention and release process that these immigrants experience before being dropped off by the border patrol at the bus station. For now, I just ask that you pray for all the families being aided by the respite center and pray often.
CJE