– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)
NO STRINGS ATTACHED
This was in the city of Half Moon Bay, California; a beautiful city with a beautiful beach and all the characteristics of a countryside city. Farming, flowers, cows and dairies were still the main scenery of that place. Also in this city there were many poor Mexican undocumented families with lots of children.
A young couple, with a few children, had the routine every Saturday morning of going together to a local restaurant and enjoying a non-expensive but delicious breakfast. No school, no work and no hurry. Just enjoying a nice meal in the presence of the family. The father of the family decided to consult with his family and share the same experience with the rest of the community. – Love is not love until it is shared.
They borrowed a hall from the City and started going to the supermarkets asking for eggs, bread, milk, vegetables, and anything else they could get. Then they started inviting people to join them every Saturday to also enjoy a nice breakfast. The young father and some volunteers prepared the food, and any person could take a plate, sit down and eat. The hall was big enough where the children could run, play, make friend and just be children. There were also tables with lots of bread and cakes, and also vegetables donated by the supermarkets for people to take home. This was something that I had never seen before.
The food was good, the company was excellent, but what impressed me the most was that there were no lists, nobody asking for documents, not even anybody asking for their names. There were just people eating together, enjoying the company of one another and building relationships.
A new program had started and its name was NO STRINGS ATTACHED.
This program had lots of influence on me when I started in my parish the project «People Helping People». No names, no lists, just people in need and people helping them. Very often bureaucracy kills programs, kills dreams and kills people. People Helping People should never be a program or an institution. People Helping People should be a way of life 24 hours a day.
CASA = HOME
Last Sunday, I had in this city of Funchal, an «impossible» experience. It is called CASA = HOME. In Portuguese it means «Support Center For the Homeless». In this world, and country, where the rules become heavier and heavier (no papers no food) I had the privilege of eating with the homeless the best food that can be served at any table. However, you don’t have to be a homeless to eat there. Just show up or ask somebody to bring you food and that will be available for you. No questions asked. No strings attached.
A few fine hotels in Funchal share their left overs with this association called «Casa» (Home). Some volunteers pick up the food, bring it to this place where people are waiting for their meals. The little inconvenience is that it has to take place after 10:30 PM when the hotels finish serving meals to their guests. People can bring their Tupperware and bags and take home how much food they want. Again… «No strings attached» or «No questions asked». Nobody asks for their names, addresses, IDs or whatever.
Along with «No Strings Attached», it is the most revolutionary association I have ever seen in my life. On the other hand, I have heard yesterday that some Catholic Associations just received instructions to be stricter in their rules in helping the poor in order to prevent abuses. Mother Teresa says that «When you start by judging you have no time to love».
«Casa» started to help the homeless but anybody even if he is a millionaire is welcomed. No questions asked. Like People Helping People, «Casa» is a combat against bureaucracy, against social inequality and against a society of waste.
Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.