GAINESVILLE – As Americans everywhere are rallying in support of the victims of Hurricane Harvey, help for those left homeless in Texas is coming from an unlikely location: a homeless shelter in Gainesville.
“Here at Good News at Noon we have been talking a lot about the dignity of our clients,” said Beth Oropeza, Assistant Director of the ministry on Davis Street.
The homeless shelter/soup kitchen is celebrating their 30th year of reaching out to those in Hall County who need a meal or a place to stay until they can reclaim their lives. Quite often those going through such straits feel a loss of self-respect, a loss of their dignity.
That lost sense of value and purpose – perceived or real – yearns to be revitalized.
However, dignity is the invisible commodity that Oropeza, and her husband Alejandro, director of the ministry, want to distribute as much as a plate of food or a cot upon which to sleep. They know that dignity is something those who have reached a low point in their life are struggling to recapture.
On sure way, experts say, to regain a measure of lost dignity is to help someone else in need, to reach out and lend a hand to those struggling like you are.
Ironically, in the process of giving the donor usually receives back much more than they donated.
So Oropeza saw an opportunity for those at Good News who have lost most everything they once owned to help those in Houston who have lost most everything they own.
Friday, as lunch was about to be served, Oropeza reminded those in the lunchroom that they still had one final chance to give before the offering would be sent to Texas.
Near Oropeza sat a large glass flower vase filled nearly to the top with a variety of coins and crumpled dollar bills.
The unlikely vessel served as the offering plate. Oropeza was ready to end the collection and send the money to Star of Hope Mission in Houston before the weekend arrived.
Oropeza said her inspiration for asking the Good News family to send financial help to Hurricane Harvey victims arose out of a radio commercial she heard on WDUN.
“Yesterday I heard ‘Jack-the-Vac-Man’ (Jack Hayes, owner of All Vacuum Wholesale in Gainesville) talking about how all of us have even a quarter we could give.” That comment spurred Oropeza to ask the clients at Good News to dig deep into their pockets and give whatever they could, to help those needing their help.
A big smile spread across her face and she said proudly, “We at Good News at Noon have collected over $200 from our clients…and our community service workers.”
Standing nearby Good News patron Bruce Cash was reaching deep into his pants pocket. He pulled the pocket inside-out and dug through a hodgepodge of loose coins, scraps of paper and laundry lint.
Carefully he selected several coins and dropped them into the vase.
Cash, known for his dry sense of humor, said casually, “I just had these quarters in my pocket and I wasn’t going to put them in a vending machine.”
Cash looked away, not wanting to be recognized for what he did; then he briefly dug deeper into his pocket and turned back to the flower vase, dropping in several more coins.
The good people of Houston will probably never know who sent them the wrinkled dollar bills and well-worn coins that filled the flower vase, but those who sent them will never forget.
