Faith

We had a gentleman walk into our office today.  My normal reaction to these folks is to get them back out the door as quickly as possible.  We have seen the strangest of people in this not great neighborhood - guys selling art that they are carrying with them, people with meat in coolers in their cars, office supply people, and on and on.  This guy though, there was something about him.  He looked absolutely tired, and he was so polite.  So he starts his spiel.  And there I am, feeling like the biggest jerk in the world.  He is part of a nonprofit organization that is in the middle of a challenge to walk from like 9am to 4pm every day to collect donations to help pay transportation costs for homeless people in DC to get to and from training programs.  He had documentation and ID.  After working the night shift at a corrections facility, he hits the streets to walk every day for 6 weeks.  At the end, all of the money collected is going to be doubled by a local sports player.  He went on to tell us that none of the members receive any sort of compensation, and that they are all motivated because they were homeless once.  He had a flex file FULL of business cards and a stack from today that he showed us with the donation amounts written on them.  He thanked us for our donation, finished with "God Bless You," and headed back out into the 90 degree heat to continue walking.

And I find my faith in humanity restored, for at least today.  I am so moved to know that there are still people out there that put their all into helping others.  I feel completely inadequate.