It’s hard to believe that the week is over, but was my last day serving at the respite center. I arrived about quarter til 8:00am and went to survey the shower trailer. I found the trailer more or less in the same state of disarray after a morning round of showers.
I met more volunteers today than any other day I spent at the respite center. I suppose that’s because it’s Friday and the start of the weekend. So a couple new volunteers and myself took it upon ourselves to start the washers and one working dryer, throw away dirty clothes, wipe out the drains, clean the shower floors, and sweep the floor.
After restoring order the shower trailer, we moved the storage room to start making sandwiches. However, we found there wasn’t much deli meat left and made as many sandwiches as we could. I then returned to the laundry where one volunteer was transferring loads between the washers and dryer. I took over the laundry briefly while she went to lunch.
Soon after I left the laundry it was time to replenish the snack pack shelves. This didn’t take long with all new volunteers on hand. So many volunteers that there were enough to form another group to unpack and sort clothing donations by size and gender.
Then it came to my attention that a father and his toddler needed to get to a local Western Union to retrieve funds for expenses when they reached their final destination. I offered to walk with Juan and his, Diego, the seven blocks to the Westren Union. While on our way to get the money, I learned that Juan and his son had travelled from Honduras before being detained at the border. Unfortunately we found that the pawn shop listed as a Western Union outlet no longer fulfilled Western Union transactions. So the three of walked the seven blocks back to the respite center where I found a volunteer with a car willing to drive to the nearest operating Western Union outlet.
As the noon hour approached I helped again to serve soup to the children in between checking on towels and supplies in the men’s shower. Not long after serving lunch I was asked to help remove the broken dryer to make room for a new dryer scheduled to arrive later in the day.
Towards the end of my time at the respite center I spent my time delivering snack packs to departing families and collecting trash as the new arrivals finished eating their soup. Overall the number of arrivals today was down slightly numbering about 200.
Before I left I made sure to say my good-byes to Sister Anne and Sister Norma. They were both extremely gracious and kind at expressing their deep appreciation for my willingness to serve. I expressed to them my desire to return and perhaps bring senior high students from my church’s youth group with me.
As I headed back for the hotel my thoughts were with both the respite center’s staff and the immigrants they served. For the respite staff I pray that God supplies them with the resources and energy they need to assist immigrants in need. For the immigrants I pray that God keep them safe and provide them with the better life they all have come such great distances hoping to secure.
CJE