It’s Sunday! Time to kick back and relax.
Sunday is a day of relaxing so that you have the strength to tackle the week ahead. But this doesn’t always mean just laying around and doing nothing. It is also a day for regrouping. If there were an opportunity to help others out we wouldn’t say no just because it is Sunday. Actually, doing things for others can be very uplifting and good for the soul. This can be part of regrouping.
Today I am going to an event at my friend’s house called “Sandwich Project for the Homeless.” A bunch of us will be putting together over a hundred sandwiches that will be brought to a local shelter.
This project, the brutal cold temperatures we have had this winter, the book I am currently reading, and my sister have all got me thinking about homelessness. I can’t even imagine what they go through or how they got there.
My sister had volunteered to make tissue paper flowers for the homeless. When she passed away, just this past summer, instead of sending us flowers we asked people to donate to a homeless organization in her honor.
My sister, Lisa.
The book I am currently reading is “A Street Cat Named Bob.” A homeless man and a cat together face the daily challenges of homelessness.
It is so sad hearing about how mean people can be to the homeless, including homeless animals. No matter how they got there, they are still human (and living creatures) and we still need to treat them as just that with kindness, compassion, and respect.
One of the teachers where I work incorporated the event I will be a part of today into one of her lesson plans by discussing homelessness and having all of the students make sandwich headbands for us to wear at the event. Cino is posing with one of them below.Ā š
Even though I am pretty exhausted from this past week, I am honored to be a part of this project today. I just know it is going to be good for my soul.
Happy Sunday! Take some time to refresh, regroup, and relax (and maybe help out someone) today.
*Check out the wonderful poem by Colin Chappell shared below in the comments.
Animals Are Feeling Beings Too 
If I may “intrude”, the following is taken from my book “Just Thinking” (available from Friesen Press, Amazon etc. etc. It is called “The Project”, and seems very appropriate for your Post:
I sit tonight on the pavement,
People watchingā¦ just to see
Who says āHelloā?
Who just walks by?
Who actually acknowledges me?
***
But I donāt seem to exist
In so many passing eyes.
Am I an embarrassment?
Do I make them feel uncomfortable?
Perhaps I am simply despised?
***
They are colder than the air
Which surrounds me this night.
For a caring and humane society,
At least as I understand it,
Thatās really not right.
***
Whereās the compassion?
I clearly have so much to learn.
Are there any Good Samaritans?
Do I even exist?
Why is there no show of concern?
***
Theyāre wrapped up in their lives.
Fashionable; conforming; neat.
They just donāt seeā¦
People like meā¦
People who live on the street.
***
Itās getting quite chilly
Butā¦ this was my choice.
A test if you wish.
An education,
To add experience to my voice.
***
I am lucky and I know it.
I do have a home.
I do have food and friends,
And I can leave here whenever I choose.
Unlike manyā¦ l am not alone.
***
To live on the streets
Is in nobodyās dreams.
There are reasons behind such a move.
Reasons we may not understand,
Butā¦ is life ever what it seems?
***
Say āHello!ā to the next person you see,
Sitting in their sidewalk home.
Recognize that reasons they must surely have,
To live in such a way.
Being ignoredā¦ and alone.
***
Treat them as people, for thatās who they are.
It takes little more than a smile,
To affirm that they really do exist.
To afford a level of dignity;
Be friends for a short while.
***
And when you say farewell.
When you leave and go to your home.
Remember those people
Whoā¦ for whatever reasons,
Are living on the streetsā¦ alone.
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No intrusion at all. Share whenever you would like. What a wonderful poem! I will even add in my post for people to read the comments and check it out. š
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Thank you. I am a bit sensitive about people who appear to hi-jack a Post simply to promote themselves, but the poem did seem to compliment your subject very nicely.
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Yes indeed. If it a fellow blogger that I feel I know, like you, then I don’t mind. š
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Great reminders, LeeAnn; and the book shown about the homeless man and his cat looks like a winner. I don’t guess he’s homeless anymore! š¤ š¾
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My guess is probably not either. I haven’t finished the book yet, but it is a great book. The man is my kind of guy. He really loves Bob and his words in one part of the book were something like “he was ready to fight/protect Bob like a mother because Bob was his baby.”
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I wish you a wonderful Sunday, LeeAnn. Beautiful poem too.
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Same to you! š
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love the idea of the sandwich project. A number of fellow bloggers reviewed A Street Cat Named Bob…….with the tons of books I have reviewed, that one slipped through the cracks.
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It is a good one!
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That sounds like a terrific project you’re helping out with. And “A Street Cat Named Bob” is a great book. I loved it! I have the sequel, “The World According To Bob”, which picks up right after it. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I plan to get to it asap.
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Oh, I’ll have to get the second book when I am done with this one. š
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ā¤
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This sandwich project sounds like such a good cause to be involved in. I loved the book (and film) of A Street Cat Named Bob, hope you enjoy it too. š
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I’ll have to check out the movie sometime. š
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