Prayer of the Volunteer

Dear Lord,

Bless the food that we ate tonight for dinner. Bless the hands that prepared it. Bless the people who shared this meal with us, ESPECIALLY Lanae. She's fifteen, has six younger siblings, a single mother, and wants nothing more than her own apartment in West Virginia so that she can escape the prejudice and stereotypes she has to live with in the projects. She admitted that her father sells crack, and that part of leaving was getting away from him, and from a life she refuses to live. Please, please, take good care of her. She is the kind of girl who hugs strangers goodbye. Bless the refugee whose house I outfitted this morning with: a bowl, a light, a fan, a spatula, bedding, a bath towel, and a few forks and knives. Bless to our understanding the meaning of "bare essentials". We ask that you look over him on this, his first night in a new country.

We thank you, lord, for all the people who we met today who would make volunteering a part of their overwhelmingly busy lives. For Antonio, and Age, and TJ, and Horace. It is a noble life that they live. Watch over them tonight as they sleep. For the church that is housing us. I KNOW that we've ground cookie crumbs into their carpet. But I promise that for every crumb that I crushed by accident I packed a piece of furniture, or shot a basketball with the kids in the projects, or served a hot dog bun with great purpose.

Finally, keep an eye out for me. I'm trying my hardest not to faint this week, and I'm doing some of the best work I've ever done. Tom keeps telling us to carry stories with us; that to know someone's history is an honor. I have many more to gather.

AMEN.

-Maddie Schafer