Monday, March 8, 2010

Restoring Hope

When I was a little girl there were a couple of families who lived in our neighborhood who were very poor. Keep in mind, that we were by no means well off, but two things we did have – food and shoes. However, the children of these families often looked as though they were hungry and desperately in need of clean clothing. The children were close to the same age as my sister and I and we would often play together. Those were the days before video games, X-boxes, and Play Stations. We used our imaginations to play games that lasted for hours.

One day I remember our family was sitting down to dinner and I saw a little girl sitting on the curb in front of our house. She was a relative of one of the neighborhood families. I don’t know why I did this, but I asked her if she was hungry and she said yes. I asked my mother if I could give her some of our food and, of course, Mom said yes. My sister and I brought the little girl out a plate of food and sat with her while she ate. I’ll never forget the expression on her face.

I feel like I’m doing the same thing every day at Haven of Rest. As Director of Development and through my personal gifts, I help provide hungry, hurting people with a nourishing plate of food and so much more. I often think of that little girl and I’m grateful that Christ has allowed me to help children like her find the help they need.


Yvonne Brake
Director of Development